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Eagle Squadron: Difference between revisions
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* The ''[[Comic Strip/Steve Canyon|Steve Canyon]]'' comics (both comic books and newspaper strips) by Milton Caniff used this. The newspaper comics placed Steve in charge of "The Dragonflies" flying against a "puppet government" in China for an extended storyline starting [http://riphaywire.com/stevecanyon/?p=640 here].
* Several strips from the British ''Commando'' comic book featured Czech or Polish pilots who flew for the British air force in the Second World War.
* DC's [[Blackhawk|Blackhawk Squadron]] is a [[Multinational Team]] version of this, to an extent. Many of the Blackhawks were, however, citizens of countries at war with the Axis powers, or occupied by them.
** Chuck fits the trope most exactly, as an American who joined the RAF before becoming a Blackhawk.
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* For some reason ''Pearl Harbor'' has a scene with Ben Affleck flying a Spitfire for the RAF in the Battle of Britain, probably to explain how the British were able to hold off the Luftwaffe. He's ostensibly a member of the actual Eagle Squadron, but the codes on the side of his airplane are (confusingly) those of 303 Squadron—which was one of the famous all-Polish units! Was Affleck actually meant to be Polish?
** Well, judging by the fact that they had him transfer there from the US Army Air Force while the US was still neutral, I don't think they were even trying. For contrast, during the Battle of Britain, Americans who wished to fight for Britain had to give up their citizenship and swear an oath of loyalty to the king. It wasn't until after the battle was over that American citizens could fight for Britain while retaining their citizenship, but even in 1941, a year after the [[Bo B]] was over, you still couldn't be an active American serviceman fighting for the British. Yes, I do hate this movie.
* ''[[Flyboys]]'' about the Lafyette Escadrille in [[World War
* ''[[The Great Escape]]'' has Hendley, who's a still member of the [[Trope Namer]] since he was shot down before Pearl Harbor and so hasn't been transferred to the USAF. Amusingly, as he's [[The Scrounger]], his RAF uniform is in better condition than the actual British characters'.
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** In fact, the first USAAF aircraft to fight on the Western Front after America's entry into the war were British Spitfires from the Eagle Squadrons which were repainted to have American insignia on them. They transitioned to American-made airframes as the American war effort got going.
* Another good example are the American Volunteer Group (AKA the "Flying Tigers") who flew P-40 Warhawks for China against the Japanese. Contrary to legend the AVG were mercenaries (and well paid ones at that) and didn't actually fly their first mission until four days ''after'' Pearl Harbor. They were eventually incorporated into the USAAF.
** The Soviet Operation Zet was an earlier example in the same war.
* In the [[Spanish Civil War]], both sides saw many foreign volunteers, including the famous author [[George Orwell]] on the Republican side.
* [[wikipedia:Category:Expatriate units and formations|Here is the Wikipedia category on these]]. Some more notable ones from the list:
** The WWI French equiv. of the Eagle Squadron, the Lafayette Escadrille.
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** The [[Legion of Lost Souls|French Foreign Legion]], depending on what the French are doing at any given time.
* The 13th international Brigade of the Spanish civil war.
* Swedish volunteers fought against the Soviets in Finland during the Winter War.
* [[The Yugoslav Wars]] saw foreign volunteers fighting on all sides. Arabs fought on the Bosnian Muslim side, while Greeks and Russians fought for the Serbs. There were cases of neo-Nazi volunteers fighting for the Serbs or Croats.
* A number of foreign volunteers served in the Rhodesian security forces during the 1970s.
* After Nazi Germany conquered their countries, many Polish and Czechoslovakian pilots traveled to the UK and decided to fly for the British Royal Air Force. The top-scoring RAF pilot of the Battle of Britain was Czech, and the pilots of the top-scoring RAF squadron were Polish.
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