Bombardér T-2990 se odmlčel - Vilém Bufka

Unfortunately, I consider this half-forgotten book to be, without exaggeration, probably the best work in Czech memoir literature about our pilots during the Second World War. The author of the book was a pre-war active military pilot - he flew at the 5th LP on the Aero MB-200. After the occupation, he went on a traditional route through Poland to France, where as one of the few bomber pilots he actively participated in the fighting, not only as a pilot of the standard Bloch MB-210, but even got several events for the stick Lioré-et-Olivier LeO-451 ! After the fall of France, another adventurous action awaited him - he had to fly a small aircraft of the Simoun type to fly over the Mediterranean Sea and transport Emissary General de Gaulle to Algiers. Then he had a trip to England, where he became a pilot in the newly formed 311 (Cz) BSq. He first flew as a co-pilot (eg with František Taiber), then took over as a skipper his KX-T machine, s/n T-2990. His crew was replaced by such well-known "aces" of the three hundred and eleven, such as Lt. Horák, Capt. Bečvář, Lt. Gellner and others. He experienced the accidental liquidation of the German staff in Le Havre with a blindly thrown bomb in zero visibility, a flight in a strong electric storm, which was carried away by severe frostbite and more. The last raid was made on the evening of June 22, 1941. Zuider See attacked Bf-110 Maj. Schnaufer and shot down. Rear shooter F/Sgt Karel Valach, P/O radio operator Vilém Konštatský and P/O navigator Leonhard Smrček died directly on board the aircraft, front shooter Sgt. Jan Hejna and co-pilot P/O Alois Rozum drowned while jumping into the sea, only the severely injured F/Sgt Bufka survived, who was waiting for anabasis after German camps. He was also in the famous Sagan, from where he was transported only a few months before the "great escape" to Barth. Here he learned that Czech pilots were awaiting transfer to Prague for the Gestapo and subsequent trials for high treason. He therefore had a caecum operated on by a prisoner-of-war doctor without anesthesia (!!!) to postpone his transport and be able to notify the expected delegation of representatives of the International Red Cross. As is well known, after the information passed by the MČK to the London government, the British Foreign Minister Eden threatened the Germans that for each executed Czech pilot two two German prisoners of higher rank would be shot, which undoubtedly saved Czech pilots, their executions postponed so ". Nevertheless, Bufka did not avoid interrogations at Pečkárna, where he was also confronted with the well-known confidant and informant Augustin Přeučil. Eventually, he got to the famous camp for the most dangerous POW in Colditz, where he was liberated by the US military.
I don't know much about Bufka's life after the war, only that together with A. Šiška he actively participated in the detection of German war crimes, among others in 1965 they both testified in one case in a court in Germany. He died sometime in the late 1960s as a result of the hardships of war.
Bufka's memories, presented in the form of a narration to his father, are extraordinarily legible, you literally swallow the book in one breath, while they are factually correct and accurate. Unfortunately, this wonderful book was published only twice, once in two editions in 1965 and 1968, the second time just after 1989, it was a typical "quick leaven", a paperback edition without photographs, factual appendices and in minimal cost. : evil: Still, whoever gets this book in your hand, don't hesitate, you won't regret it !!!!

I have an edition from 1967 (?), Svoboda publishing house, Prague. Unfortunately also without photos.
But I have a Slovak edition (Vydavateľstvo politickej literatúry, edition Členská knižnica, Bratislava 1967) there are photographs.
It is a memoir literature whose style borders on fiction. Really very readable. I also recommend.

Cover of the 1966 edition