Ferák, Jan

Jan Ferák


Born on 8 July 1913 in Ústí u Vsetín. During the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939) "interbrigadista" as a pilot-interceptor. He shot down 7 enemy planes. After the defeat of the Republicans he retreated to the USSR. He was killed on 15 May 1942 at H.M.S. Trinidad on his way to Great Britain.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#105677 Version : 0
Excerpt from the two-part study by Majtenyi - Rajlich, which is the first to focus on the person of this airman from the perspective of archival sources, both domestic and foreign. For more information, especially comparing the reality with the information given in the book treatment of his memoirs, I recommend this study. The text is also a "counterpoint" to the brief information published here about Ferák, which is based on his memoirs.


Rotmistr Jan Ferák


* 08.07.1913, Ústí u Vsetína
+ 15.05.1942, Barents Sea, approx. 200 km southeast of Bear Island


He was the son of a peasant and blacksmith Jan Ferák and his wife Aloysia, he had one older sister. In his native Ústí, he attended a municipal school, followed by a burgher school and a three-year apprenticeship at the industrial school of the Thonet-Mundus company, both in Vsetín, where he became an automobile fitter.


Ferák was intensely interested in technology, especially aviation, and between 1 October 1931 and 31 July 1933 he attended the Aviation Vocational School at the Military Aviation School in Prostějov. He also underwent pilot training and was rated good in his final examinations, finishing 22nd overall out of 36 graduates.


On 13 July 1933 he was drafted into the Air Force and on 1 August he was sent to Aviation Regiment 1 in Prague-Kbel, where he was re-tested by the regimental training squadron, after which he was sent to Aery Ap-32 armed observation squadron 3 in Milovice. He served with the unit for over a year, his commander was quite pleased with him and Ferak was promoted twice. First on 15 October 1933 to Lance Corporal and on 10 October 1934 to Corporal.


On the last day of October 1934, he was sent to Slovakia to the observation squadron of the 15th Air Regiment 3, where he was appointed a field pilot on 1 November. After almost a year's service in Slovakia he was selected for fighter training, and completed his compulsory course between 15 June and 26 July in Prostějov, where he was also promoted to sergeant (16 July).


After returning to Slovakia he was sent to Squadron 38, based in Vajnore and armed with Avia Ba-33 aircraft.


However, at that time Ferák began to "fool around", which resulted in an indictment on 9 September 1935, which accused him of six thefts of money from his colleagues at various air bases, which he was alleged to have committed between December 1934 and September 1935. Ferak admitted three of the thefts, but failed to prove the others, for which he was suspended and sentenced to e four weeks' hard labour with three years' probation and damages. At the same time he was demoted to private and transferred to the infantry for life (16 October).
Thus, he served the last five months of the war with Infantry Regiment 42 in Terezín and was released to the reserve on 15 March 1936.


Ferák then settled down in Prague and, as he had also completed a course in aviation mechanics in the Air Force, he found a job in the aviation department of ČKD Praha. At that time, the Czechoslovak intelligence services were also interested in him because he had answered advertisements from the publishing house Die Flugwelt, which was looking for "aviation experts for a new magazine" and there were fears that he was a German spy.


After the outbreak of civil war in Spain, the Communist Party leadership began looking for volunteers in the Czechoslovakia who would be willing to help the Republican government in its struggle. Most of them were "recruited" in the autumn and winter of 1936/37, before the whole network was broken up by the Czechoslovak authorities. And it was probably at that time that Ferák was "recruited" as well, as he missed flying and saw this offer as an opportunity to return to it.


On 21 November 1936 he was issued a passport and a few days later he set off for Spain with two other volunteers, arriving apparently on 2 December.


Already in December, Ferak was sent to Albacete airport, where he joined a volunteer unit commanded by the Frenchman André Malraux. The unit was made up of surviving mercenary pilots and was armed with a varied mix of types - Hispano-Nieuport Ni.52, Dewoitine D.371/373 and the Potez Series 54 top-flying bombers to which Ferák was assigned.


He underwent retraining, as he had not flown multi-engine aircraft up to that time, and then moved with the unit to Almería and engaged in combat flights mainly in the Salamanca and Málaga area.


It was during the fighting for Málaga that Malraux's unit suffered heavy losses and was virtually destroyed. On 11 February 1937, for example, Italian CR.32 fighters shot down both Potezas that had been sent to cover the retreating Republican militia. Although Ferak later reported that he was behind the knife of one of the Potez, he was not actually involved in the action at all.


The surviving airmen and material were sent to various units after the fighting at Málaga, Ferak himself to Grupo 11 de Bombardeo Nocturno. This unit was armed with six Potezes, two more modern MB.210s and several Fokker transport mounts modified for bombing.


Ferák was of course assigned to the Potezes, even "elected" squadron commander of these machines and promoted to captain, and two Czech gunners - Josef Soušek and Zdeněk Talaš - became part of his crew. This rank advancement was also duly used propagandistically in the Red Law of the time, where it was pointed out that a pilot who could not find a job at home commanded an entire squadron in Spain.


On 31 May 1937 at 3.30am Ferak took off to bomb the port of Palma de Mallorca, dropping his load of bombs between 6.13-6.17am. The bombs caused quite a lot of material damage, killing 14 and injuring 34.


Immediately after turning around to return, however, Potez was attacked by a trio of CR.32 fighters from 101a Squadriglia, piloted by Capitano Giuseppe D'Agostinis, the squadron leader, and I. Lalatta and A. Vedovi. The slow Potez was no match for them and before long its left engine was on fire. Ferak turned him back towards Mallorca and, while attempting an emergency landing, he crashed in the south-western part of the island near the Andraitx-Estellencs road. Ferák was the only survivor of the crash and was taken prisoner; the rest of the crew, including the two Czechs, were killed.


According to Ferák's account, he was interrogated during his captivity by both the Italians and the Germans, who also took him to Rome and Berlin for interrogation. This has not yet been confirmed or refuted, but his experiences are very similar to those of other soldiers interrogated in Italy and Germany, as reported in Spanish newspapers at the time. In any case, he was part of the exchange of prisoners on 19 August 1937 and got back to "his own".


Ferák spent a few weeks after that on leave in Paris and around 15 September 1937 he started his journey back to Spain, more precisely to Valencia.


Relatively little is known about his subsequent service, Ferák himself reports that he returned to combat, commanded a squadron of I-16 fighters and achieved several victories. However, none of this information has been traced anywhere, especially the high number of victories claimed (around five) would have been recorded somewhere. Moreover, he was also threatened with execution if recaptured.


According to Spanish documents, Ferák briefly rejoined his original unit, which was engaged in protecting the coast. He then devoted himself to flying and re-flying new aircraft, after which he was assigned to a new unit that trained on the new American Vultee V-1 aircraft and became combat capable in February 1938. Ferak also had one accident with the unit, on 6 January to be exact, when he made an emergency landing with aircraft number BV-002 after an engine failure.

On 15 March 1938, Ferák requested release from Spanish service, which was granted, and three days later he left for Czechoslovakia.


There is little information about his further fate in Czechoslovakia. What is certain is that he was very mentally exhausted and in financial need. He found a job as a machine fitter at the Avia factory, where he received a decent salary.

At that time he also began to compile his memories from Spain with the help of Václav Kubec, which were published as an 11-part series in the magazine Ahoj! Apparently, he already "spiced up" his own experiences there with events he recorded from his fellow soldiers in Spain, claiming several victories, e.g. in the defence of Madido at a time when he was still demonstrably in Czechoslovakia, and many others. The text was also published in book form in 1964 under the title Where Olives Ripen...


The information presented here was then taken up by almost all subsequent authors who wrote about Ferák and thus contributed to the creation of the myth that still surrounds his person.


However, Ferák's life went on. During the threat to the republic from Germany, he was called to active duty in September 1938 and probably returned to the air force, but he was demobilized as early as 21 October.

He returned to his work at Avia and on 7 February 1939 married Maria, the sister of his Spanish shipmate Zdeněk Talás.


However, already at that time Ferák was thinking about going to the USSR. He applied for a passport, which he received in November, and in December he applied for a visa to the USSR. However, the couple did not leave the Republic until after the occupation on 16 April 1939, just four days before the German decree forbidding anyone who had taken part in the fighting in Spain to leave. Nine days later they were in Moscow.


However, shortly afterwards the couple were sent to Siberia, first to Chelyabinsk and then to Voroshilovgrad, where they worked in tractor factories. However, the conditions of the refugees were very difficult, they had a shortage of food and clothing, and the work in the factories was very hard. Everything got even worse after the USSR entered the war. Into these conditions their daughter Jana was born in March 1940.


However, the entry of the USSR into the war also gave some hope, because a treaty on military cooperation between the Czechoslovak government-in-exile and the USSR was signed and the formation of Czechoslovak troops began. Ferák therefore went to Buzuluk, where he was conscripted on February 14, 1942, as able-bodied with a defect. He was assigned to a staff company and on 6 March was promoted to air force sergeant.

He stayed in Buzuluk only briefly, however, because after an unsuccessful attempt to build a Czechoslovak air unit, it was decided to move all the airmen to Great Britain.


On 28 April 1942, eight Czechoslovak airmen boarded the cruiser HMS Edinburgh, which was to participate in the protection of the convoy QP-11, which was returning to England. However, just two days later the vessel was hit by torpedoes fired from the submarine U-456. During the attack died, among others, the commander of the Czechoslovak group Col. let. Josef Berounsky. The damaged vessel turned back to Murmansk, where it was heading in tow behind another ship. On 2 May, however, Allied ships attacked German destroyers and in the ensuing battle the Edinburgh was sunk. Fortunately, all seven surviving Czechoslovak airmen made it back to Murmansk.


On 13 May they boarded the light cruiser HMS Trinidad, which was to escort the QP-13 convoy to England. However, the very next day the convoy was attacked by German He 111 and He 115 torpedo planes and the ships were dive-bombed by Ju 88 bombers from III./KG 30. One of the bombs penetrated the decks and exploded where most of the passengers were hidden. None of them survived the explosion, among the dead were four Czechoslovak airmen - sergeant V. Laštovička and sergeants Bohuslav Zikmund, Josef Návesník and Jan Ferák.


The ship sank at 1.20 a.m. the next day and only three airmen were saved - Capt. J. Hlaďo, npor. let. Jan Št'astný and Lt. J. Mikulecký.


Ferák's grave is thus the Barents Sea, roughly at the coordinates 73°37´N and 23°27´E. On 31 August 1942 Ferák received the 1939 Czechoslovak War Cross in memoriam.


Source:
Majtenyi, D. - Rajlich, J. 2008: The legend of the Republican air ace Jan Ferák, Part I, History and Military 1/LVII, pp. 4-34.
Majtenyi, D. - Rajlich, J. 2008: The legend of the republican air ace Jan Ferák, Part II, History and Military 2/LVII, pp. 4 - 31.
http://www.fronta.cz/interbrigadista-jan-ferak
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#309717 Version : 0

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

Původně absolvoval Školu leteckého dorostu, později slloužil u leteckého pluku v Olomouci jako pilot. Po skončení vojenské služby se pokusil najít místo pilota v ČLS nebo ČSA, což se mu nepovedlo, odjel tedy do Francie a zde se dal zverbovat do Španělska. Jako interbrigadista bojoval jako stihač v Madridu u smíšené letky (zřejmě na Dewoitine 371 možná i Loire 46), dosáhl několika sestřelů a později byl přeložen na I-16, později létal jako pilot na Potez 54 u "eskadrille Malraux", byl několikrát sestřelen a jednou zajat falangisty; po cca 2 měsících byl vyměněn za sestřelené letce s tím že se již nesmí konfliktu zúčastnit, létal snad jako instruktor, nebo možná i bojově pod jiným jménem.


V roce 1938 je již zpět v republice (podle vlastního tvrzení jako kurýr z Moskvy do Paříže), zde se také v únoru 1939 žení s Marií Talašovou.


Po 15. březnu se mu s pomocí vyslanectví SSSR daří vycestovat do SSSR spolu s manželkou, zde se jim narodila dcera. Po napadení SSSR se hlásí do našeho vojska a na základě dohod je jako pilot odeslán do Británie. Odplouvá na křižníku Edinburg, po jeho potopení torpédem se mu povede zachránit a vrací se do Murmanska, zde se nalodil na palubu křižníku Trinidad a zde je při leteckém útoku zabit bombou, jeho tělo nebylo nalezeno.


Jeho úspěchy ve Španělsku nejsou jisté, mluví se o několika sestřelech (3 - 7) obecně je přijímán počet 7 sestřelů (2xCR32, 2xHe51, 1xBf109, 1xCaproni a 1xHeinkel). Pravděpodobně jde pouze o první tři až čtyři poslední tři totiž měly být dosaženy až v únoru 1938 na I-16 a v té době již neměl bojově létat. Zápisník letů se nedochoval a španělské zdroje o těchto sestřelech nejsou.


některé věci o jeho životě jsem čerpal ze stránek jeho rodné obce : http://www.obecusti.cz/zprav_brez_03.php
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#105781 Version : 0

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

K sestřelení Ferákova Potezu 30.5.1937, po kterém byl zajat. Jako jedinému se mu podařilo dostat z hořícího letadla. Jedním z členů posádky byl Zdenek Taláš, který byl bratrem budoucí Ferákovi manželky Marie.
Dalším členem v posádce Ferákova Potezu byl taktéž čech Josef Souček.
Ten spolu s Talášem obsluhovaly palubní kulomety.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#211256 Version : 0

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

Fotografie Jana Feráka:


Zdroj: www.greendevils.estranky.cz
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#309660 Version : 0

Diskuse

This post has not been translated to English yet. Please use the TRANSLATE button above to see machine translation of this post.

Ono nejasností je kolem osoby Jana Feráka řada, ale obvykle jsou to nejasnosti založené na něčí fabulaci. Pokud vím jedním z důvodů je to že je to jeden z mála čechoslováků bojujících za občanské války ve Španělsku v letectvu republikánů. Šlo patrně o jediného pilota a proto kolem něj byly vytvořeny legendy za bývalého režimu, ať už je to zmíněná kniha "Kde olivy dozrávají" nebo další "V dešti bomb" která rovněž je z velké části právě o Ferákovi. Knihy se odvolávají na údajné vzpomínky kohosi kdo se s Ferákem setkal a případně i viděl jeho zápisník letů. Jde ale zřejmě o výmysly a nikoli realitu a to jak co se týče sestřelů tak co se týče typů letadel na kterých údajně létal jako stíhač. Reálné je jeho působení na Potezech 540.
URL : https://www.valka.cz/Ferak-Jan-t29724#309691 Version : 0
Discussion post Fact post
Attachments

Join us

We believe that there are people with different interests and experiences who could contribute their knowledge and ideas. If you love military history and have experience in historical research, writing articles, editing text, moderating, creating images, graphics or videos, or simply have a desire to contribute to our unique system, you can join us and help us create content that will be interesting and beneficial to other readers.

Find out more