Joey Pytlák Říha
When I look around here at Černý Most and read the names of the streets, I see one interesting name next to another. The heroes themselves. Ocelka, Breitcetl, Bryks, Dygrýn, František, Vašátko, Valenta, Maňák ... Pilots who fought in the ranks of the RAF against the hated enemy during the Second World War, for the liberation of the homeland, for democracy, the ideals of Masaryk and Beneš, for returning to their homes . They are all dominated by the name of the only Czechoslovak air marshal, a man who practically led our air force in Great Britain for five war years and who helped build his fame and the name of our Czechoslovak Republic, A / M RNDr. Karel Janoušek, KCB ...
During an anti-submarine patrol over Biscay on 11 September 1942, there was suddenly a huge bang from the right wing area. The captain of the stricken Wellington of the 311th Bombardment Squadron, designated KX-K, first feared that the aircraft had been attacked by enemy fighters or by the anti-aircraft defenses of a vessel.
"Ada, go to the side machine guns and look at the underside of the wing," he ordered his navigator. "Lieutenant, we've got a big hole in the wing and it's tearing..."
Recently, I tried to write an e-mail to one of the addresses of the former Czechoslovak RAF pilots, Col. Peters to England. For a long time there was no answer, so I was already beginning to consider my attempt as unsuccessful. A few days ago, however, Mr. Peters called Honza, saying that he would arrive in Bohemia in a few days. After a very short stay in a military hostel in Juliska, he had to go to the spa, but we still managed to catch him and make an appointment ...
Airmen of Jewish origin who flew during World War II
Shortly after his arrival in England after the collapse of France in June 1940, he was commissioned to co-create the 311th Czechoslovak bomber squadron. Shortly after its formation, this officer took part in its first operations against the enemy and ensured excellent success in the raid on Brussels on September 10, 1940.
Memories of a time full of enthusiasm, determination, pride, heroism, ...
... but also betrayal and painful disappointment ...
... he took off into the clouds, he sang Moravian song, Boschs which he shot down on the hull marked had ...
I'm no hero. I am listed in the Air Force list as the only 311th Squadron scribe to return to Czechoslovakia after the war. When we arrived in Prague, we were greeted by a parade to Vinohrady. In short, people were celebrating the freedom that had been won by airmen and soldiers in foreign armies, which then lasted less than three years...
Czechoslovak night fighters built a very good reputation with their English colleagues during World War II. Many of them gained the status of fighter ace, some even surpassed their "day colleagues" and are at the top of the tables of achieved kills. Maj. Gen. Josef Jan Hanus, DFC was one of them...
Jan Roman Irving entered the history of the 311th (Czechoslovak) bomber squadron of the RAF as an excellent pilot with the largest number of operating hours flown (a total of 1125, of which 1024 at "311"). However, it is not the only entry in his chronicles of our air force. As the captain of the aircraft during his operational flights, he encountered a total of eight German submarines. However, not a single one was admitted to him as destroyed or damaged ...
On the night of 28 to 29.12.1941, the 311th (Czechoslovak) bomber squadron carried out one more of its many successful raids on territory occupied by the enemy. This time, a deadly cargo landed on the German port of Wilhelmshaven. The commander of one of the attacking Wellingtons was Alois Šiška. His machine was hit by anti-aircraft fire above the target.
Calcium Airborne group member. "… In our nation, there were times when young men who enjoyed life, who sang, laughed and loved, went where the hope of survival was estimated at three months."
The many books and articles about the battles and fates of members of the British Royal Air Force are mostly about fighter pilots, pilots of agile day fighters, crews of heavily armed night fighters and sky riders, battling death in their bombers in the hot night skies of occupied Europe or over the endless, bottomless Atlantic. But all these, brave and courageous, were but the imaginary point of the RAF's spear. They could not have taken off every day if it had not been for the thousands, tens of thousands of ground service personnel, mechanics, armourers, typists, cooks, etc. Women, the good-looking and efficient members of the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), were a significant and unmissable part of this machine. The Czechoslovak Air Force, fighting as part of the RAF Volunteer Reserve, was not left behind. Among the women in grey and blue uniforms, there were also WAAFs with the Czechoslovakia patch on their shoulders. One of them was Mrs. Margita Rytířová.
On the night of February 6-7, 1941, six Wellingtons of the 311th (Czechoslovak) RAF Bomber Squadron launched from East Wretham to attack the French port of Boulogne. The aircraft marked KX-T "Tamara" did not return from the raid. The second pilot of this machine was Sgt. Petr Uruba.
When Czechoslovak pilots arrived on English soil in the summer of 1940, much changed for them. Especially for those who held in their hands the rams of bomber aircraft. In the British Royal Air Force RAF commanded the bomber pilot. Unlike the Czechoslovak Air Force, or the French Air Force, according to whose structure our pre-war Air Force was built, where the navigator held the position of bomber commander. It did not matter whether the pilot of the machine was an officer or a non-commissioned officer. One of the first non-commissioned officers to take control of Wellington's Czechoslovak squadron was the smiling giant Sgt. Vilém Bufka ...
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