List of author's articles

6. dobový letecký den - Mladá Boleslav, 16. 6. 2007

Sunday morning, about half past four and gentle digging into the shoulder. "Honey, haven't you fallen asleep? ..." I'm looking, squinting, ... well, yeah, ... "Somewhat, I'd say ..." But well, I'll make it on the train. And who wouldn't fall asleep? I dreamed of flying. Beautiful shaggy clouds, fofrklacek in hand, canvas, tubes, bubbling engine and whistling air around the head. And below me a beautiful colorful Pojizeří, forests, meadows, hills, ... look, ... there's Skoda! And a short distance away, just outside the city, the airport. Well, ... let's go down. With the chimney behind me and the wooded Chlum on my left hand, I land, roll to the hangar, take off my glasses, ... clean my fangs and cheer for the train. Otherwise, my colleague will curse me ...
🕔︎ 19.06.2007 👁︎ 15.742

A/M Karel Janoušek RNDr., KCB

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 ...

🕔︎ 02.05.2007 👁︎ 54.602

Ada Zeke Zelený, MBE

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..."

🕔︎ 02.06.2005 👁︎ 30.941

Air Stars Meeting 2007 , Slaný, 9. 6. 2007

The Air Stars meeting, the meeting of air stars at the airport of the aeroclub in Slaný, was supposed to be the icing on the cake, in the whole week we spent in the company of our war veterans, RAF pilots and soldiers of the Czechoslovak foreign army. Also, the experience from previous years and this year's program promised that the whole event would be really worth it. Honestly, however, and it is not just my opinion, it was a great disappointment for us. Fortunately, all those beautiful moments with our veterans and friends overcame all this ...
🕔︎ 13.06.2007 👁︎ 11.550

Air Stars Meeting in Slaný - June 17, 2005

On March 2, 1945, a major air battle took place in the area around Slaný between the American 398th Bombardment Group and the German JG 300. One of the bombers that never returned to their home base was the flying fortress B-17 G serial number 44-6573. . The crew, which perished in the wreckage of this machine, was commanded by pilot Lt. Col. Donald R. Christensen. In memory of Lt. Col. Christensen, his men, as well as other fallen people, are held annually at the small sports airport of the Slaný aeroclub, a reverential act and a memorial meeting of pilots, veterans and fans of flying ...
🕔︎ 04.07.2005 👁︎ 14.821

Bernard Lebovič - Peters

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 ...

🕔︎ 14.12.2004 👁︎ 20.212

Brigade General, Group Captain Josef Schejbal

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.

🕔︎ 16.09.2020 👁︎ 4.491

Citizens of Hostivice in RAF units 1939 - 1945

From 14 to 16 October 2005, friends from the Prague Aviation Archive (PLA) organized an exhibition in the Hostivice chateau focused on natives of Hostivice who served in the British Royal Air Force during the Second World War. In addition to the pilots themselves and their destinies, the secondary theme of the exhibition was aerial archeology.
🕔︎ 01.11.2005 👁︎ 17.123

Discussion with veterans at CTU

It doesn't happen to me often, from minute to minute (in this case it is probably not possible to use even winged from day to day ...) I would completely overturn all my plans. But it's usually worth it, too. The same was true of the visit of a colleague and friend in the arms of John Lehovec. Not only did we manage to create a strong group of passionate aviation enthusiasts and our war veterans that day, but Aunt Eva also came, I also learned about the regular annual event organized at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the Czech Technical University in Dejvice - a discussion with our pilots, World War II veterans.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 15.982

Dobrošov - Concrete border

So far, so good that we go to some fortress every summer. I say to myself that, despite my relatively young age, it is not Matěj's fault to start slowly initiating into national history. How many times would people much older need it ... There is definitely something to choose from, on the Czech-Polish border (and not only there ...) the whole concrete border grew up before the war. This time we chose the Náchod region and the system of heavy fortifications in Dobrošov ...
🕔︎ 17.10.2005 👁︎ 18.068

Festive meeting of RAF veterans

Festive meeting of RAF veterans with the Ambassador of Great Britain at the British Embassy on the occasion of the 66th anniversary of the Battle of Britain ...
🕔︎ 12.09.2006 👁︎ 13.756

Fighter World, RAAF Williamtown

There are a few things that make it good to have some acquaintances somewhere. And this is really true from a global perspective as well. At least this time it paid off more than just for me ...
🕔︎ 04.09.2006 👁︎ 12.239

František Peřina

... he took off into the clouds, he sang Moravian song, Boschs which he shot down on the hull marked had ...

🕔︎ 16.09.2020 👁︎ 4.736

Hugo Mellion

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...

🕔︎ 09.12.2022 👁︎ 1.982

Jan Josef Hanuš

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...

🕔︎ 29.01.2006 👁︎ 10.349

Jan Robert Alexander DFC, DFM

Until recently, Jan Robert Alexander was one of the least known Czechoslovak members of the RAF. This was mainly because during the Second World War he enlisted directly in the RAF and was therefore not a member of the Czechoslovak Air Force within the RAF. He also served exclusively with British squadrons throughout the war. At the same time, however, he completed the most operational operations of Czechoslovak pilots - a respectable 101 combat raids on Germany and the occupied territories, with a total length of 478.1 hours ...
🕔︎ 16.03.2008 👁︎ 11.575

Jan Roman Irving - a guy with a nose for submarines

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 ...

🕔︎ 10.10.2006 👁︎ 36.460

Jarda's big day ...

The editor asked me, "Didn't you ever want to take your feet on your shoulders and run away when you saw your friends dying next to you?" ... I was very surprised by the question. I looked at her and replied, "It could never have happened ..." Our friends died for the ideals we fought for. Among our pilots, ... those were my best memories and the best part of my life. We fought, we died, but we were best friends, one or the other we were ready to die for my friend ... "
🕔︎ 05.10.2007 👁︎ 20.560

Jaroslav Novák - I. escape for hope

I was lucky to meet some very interesting people. Their destinies had one thing in common. During the war, they went to the foreign army to fight the fascists. Together with them, I kind of put together their life stories. Now I would like to publish the first of them, the story of the former navigator of the famous 311th Squadron, now Col. Jarek Novák.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 26.691

Jaroslav Novak - II. French disappointment

They didn't let us into town. In the dormitories we enjoyed bedbugs, lice and mosquitoes at night again. The legionnaires didn't seem to mind, but we were really annoyed. The next day we were commanded at the station and by train to Agde, a small town where Czechoslovakia. army in exile warehouse. They asked us a lot of things and put on uniforms - I got an old two-tone uniform worn by soldiers of the French army in World War I.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 23.898

Jaroslav Novak - III. In the soil and sky of the proud Albion

We arrived in Liverpool on July 13, 1940 and disembarked on the fourteenth. On the way to the station we had to walk through the city. There was probably a sad look on us, in torn uniforms, unarmed, dirty from head to toe. It was not possible to wash a little on the ship, but the inhabitants changed as if he had whipped a wand.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 27.244

Jaroslav Novak IV. - Don't look at the amount

We started diligently training to domesticate on our machine, get acquainted with the surrounding landscape and also to get used to bombing objects on the water from different heights, because our main task was to search for submarines and attacks on enemy ships ...
🕔︎ 10.04.2004 👁︎ 27.027

Jaroslav Novak V. - Flying at Transport Command

At this school we underwent intensive training, which lasted approximately four weeks. We were divided into groups, such as pilots, navigators and radio operators, each group trained separately. Only meteorology was common to all. The lectures started at 8 am and lasted with a lunch break until four in the afternoon ...
🕔︎ 10.05.2004 👁︎ 21.677

Jaroslav Novak VI. - The bitter taste of victory

Although I was looking forward to seeing my parents, friends and homeland again, it was very difficult for me to say goodbye to England, which I fell so in love with, to leave a country where I had just, so to speak, become a man, with people who were so fantastically nice to me and with whom I was ready to fight and die together.
🕔︎ 10.05.2004 👁︎ 22.982

Jaroslav Novák, navigator of the 311th Squadron of the RAF

I was lucky to meet some very interesting people. Their destinies had one thing in common. During the war, they went to the foreign army to fight the fascists. Together with them, I kind of put together their life stories. Now I would like to publish the first of them, the story of the former navigator of the famous 311th Squadron, now Col. Jarek Novák.
🕔︎ 02.10.2018 👁︎ 4.367

Jaroslav Vyhnis

When my friend Honza Horal asked me why I hadn't written anything about my war experiences yet, I replied: "I didn't write and it's hard to write. Others have already taken care of that. I don't like to remember the war ..."
🕔︎ 03.09.2019 👁︎ 3.971

Josef Mohr - Death Under an Ice Duvet

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.

🕔︎ 25.09.2006 👁︎ 25.726

Karel Niemczyk

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."

🕔︎ 16.09.2020 👁︎ 3.827

Letters to Liduška

Memories of a time full of enthusiasm, determination, pride, heroism, ...
... but also betrayal and painful disappointment ...

🕔︎ 14.05.2008 👁︎ 30.470

Lieutenant Ladislav Klimek

It was 1957, a week after the first day of spring. Against the background of the aggravated international situation caused by the bloody events in Hungary and the war in the Middle East, the President of the Republic granted the flag of the newly formed 20th Fighter Air Regiment. As part of the celebrations of the May victory, the regiment commander, Maj. Lindovský, ceremoniously took over on May 9 in the town square in Čáslav…
🕔︎ 22.02.2006 👁︎ 8.395

Lubomír Úlehla I. - Pre-war period and escape to Poland

Ladies and gentlemen, let me start a little unconventionally. Above all, I would like to apologize to you all if my performance today does not meet your expectations. That is, if you are expecting a perfectly prepared lecture, technically grounded and so on. You know, I've done a lot, dozens and dozens of discussions in schools and on different occasions. However, I almost always spoke to the youngest generation, which knew very little or nothing about the issue of the Czechoslovak Foreign Air Force ...
🕔︎ 10.04.2004 👁︎ 21.906

Lubomír Úlehla II. - Via Poland to the Legion

There was such a grove on the Polish side of the valley. Before we headed to it, we automatically looked back. A German soldier with a flint ready to shoot was standing in a meadow on the Czech side. He didn't know… to shoot or not to shoot. However, before he changed his mind, we fled to the forest and he did not know if there was a Polish patrol that would return fire ...
🕔︎ 05.10.2004 👁︎ 20.776

Lubomír Úlehla IV. - 311th

We landed at an airport near London, now I don't remember if it was Croydon or Hendon. At the airport we were surprised by a completely different atmosphere. No mess and confusion like in France, there was peace, order, organization, everything ready. After landing, we went through a cordon of police, they were the typical great Bobby in their high helmets, as we knew them from movies and books ...
🕔︎ 19.10.2004 👁︎ 26.638

Lubomír Úlehla V. - Remembrance of Africa

In 1943, I was released by our government in London to serve in the Army of Free France. I was taken to North Africa with two other friends, the Kozak cousins. By the way, Pavel Kozák then died there and is buried in the air cemetery in Meknés, Morocco. I was assigned to the Free France Air Force (FAFL). I underwent pilot training and flew like a fighter. I experienced a lot of interesting things here too. Not to mention just the sad ones, I would tell you one such incident with a happier ending.
🕔︎ 02.11.2004 👁︎ 28.020

Margaret Schneider-Rytirova

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.

🕔︎ 15.02.2006 👁︎ 10.195

Meeting of the Association of Veterans in the Hotel Legie 3.12.2003

Every first Wednesday of the month, an interesting company meets in the building of the Legie Hotel in Prague on IP Pavlova Square. It consists of former Czechoslovak members of the Air Force who fought during World War II on the Western and Eastern Fronts, widows of those who have left us forever, and several officials of the Airmen's Union.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 11.909

Meeting of the Association of Veterans in the Hotel Legie 3.3.2004

I hold today's issue of Mladá Fronta in my hand and shake my head in disgust. Basically, today's entire meeting in the Legion, apart from the usual matters, funding, list of events and the like, revolved around Col. Jan Horal. At the end of February, he received the Order of the British Empire from Queen Elizabeth.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 12.649

Meeting of the Association of Veterans in the Hotel Legie 7.1.2004

So I just returned from another meeting of veterans at the Legie Hotel and hurray straight to the computer. I have to say that this time it turned out really well. So if I can afford to say something like that when I've only been there twice. Anyway, it was nice to come among people I already know and with whom I can have a great chat.
🕔︎ 17.03.2004 👁︎ 12.331

Mourning torment

For the deceased former Czechoslovak members of RAF Brig. Gen. Elston, Col. MUDr. Macháček and Col. Poláček, Hotel Duo, September 13, 2005.
🕔︎ 27.09.2005 👁︎ 14.318

NATO Day in Ostrava

(Perhaps) a short report from the 6th year of NATO Day, as we managed to capture and absorb it ...
🕔︎ 12.09.2006 👁︎ 12.523

Poppy Day

The symbol of the memorial service, which is called "Poppy Day", is a poppy flower. He reminds us that in times of war only this wild flower prospered in uncultivated fields. The poppy flower is then perhaps not missing in any lapel of the participants…
🕔︎ 16.11.2004 👁︎ 34.911

Sgt. Petr Uruba

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.

🕔︎ 10.11.2004 👁︎ 25.445

Sgt. Vilém Bufka

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 ...

🕔︎ 28.10.2006 👁︎ 47.228

Sheet metal cavalry

The roar of powerful engines, the squeak of belts, artillery, fire and smoke, all of this was on display on Saturday, June 26, 2004, at the former Boží Dar military airport in Milovice. Under the auspices of the Army of the Czech Republic and with the help of a number of sponsors, a ceremonial event took place here on the occasion of the 100th anniversary of the founding of the VVP Milovice-Mladá. And we couldn't miss it…
🕔︎ 05.09.2004 👁︎ 18.199

Tank day with ABC

On Saturday, August 27, 2005, the 3rd tank day in Tank Museum Lešany took place in cooperation with ABC magazine. Despite the relatively small advertisement of this event, it was allegedly attended by around 30,000 visitors. The announcer of the local radio station and at the same time a guide to the all-day program announced at the end of the day that the organizing service ensuring the operation of the car parks in front of the complex counted over 8,300 visitors' personal vehicles. A successful sunny day certainly contributed to this ...
🕔︎ 17.10.2005 👁︎ 13.918

Training and other strongholds and bunkers in the former military excercise Milovice-Mladá, part 5

Another morning, another march to kindergarten, another alone in the morning. Work at home as in a church, but with the right layout, it should be possible in the afternoon. That's why I'm planning another wanderer. Although I'm a bit of a dragonfly, I would like to go see Kostelec nad Černými Lesy (I'm looking for a classmate from elementary school ...). But in the end, the adventure wins. Further research of bunkers in the area of the former VVP. This time all the more mysterious that I plan to visit the buildings in which nuclear air ammunition was allegedly stored during the Soviet era ...
🕔︎ 22.07.2008 👁︎ 8.709

Unveiling of the monument

To Czechoslovak soldiers and pilots killed on the battlefields of World War II , November 11, 2004.
🕔︎ 01.12.2004 👁︎ 15.097

Václav Djačuk I. - Escape and captivity

"... From there, from the gold mine, comes a procession of human ghosts. These people were forced to work hard, almost like animals. But the animals would rebel or die. These would survive. They turned into skeletons. No one will understand how they could survive? skins and bones, without exaggeration. These former people, physically absolutely destroyed, are no longer useful in the gold mine. Their productivity is zero ... ... that's why they are destined for road maintenance ... "
🕔︎ 13.04.2005 👁︎ 23.392

Václav Djačuk II. - Prisoner No. 3814

We went to the old-fashioned railway station in a column under the escort, gripped on both sides by a cordon of militia, soldiers and internal security in three rows, followed by wolfhounds. A long transport was sent, guarded by armed guards. I saw telephone wires running over the wagons, connecting the stations in two or three cars.
🕔︎ 19.04.2005 👁︎ 20.576

Václav Djačuk III. - Camps of despair

The first winter was the worst. We were not used to such frosts at all, nor were we ready. In addition, we were constantly exhausted and hungry. It was the worst then. Ten to twelve people died every day. And we never found out what happened to them. Heart failure from frost? Gallbladder failure, liver from bad food? Poison? Stroke? ... The man was sitting, suddenly falling over and it was over. Or he just didn't wake up in the morning. Did he fall right at the meal ...
🕔︎ 17.05.2005 👁︎ 19.578

Václav Djačuk IV. - From the golden grave to battle

In the winter of 1942, they announced that the Czechoslovaks would be released. We were able to enlist in the Czechoslovak unit forming in Buzuluk. But they also offered us Soviet citizenship so that we could stay in Kolyma as free people or join the Red Army. Of course, everyone went to our army without exception.
🕔︎ 26.05.2005 👁︎ 19.972

Václav Djačuk V.

This land once belonged to the Yukagirs, Yakuts, Even and their reindeer. The gold-bearing Kolyma that someone cursed. More than the snow-capped peaks of the majestic mountains, the clear water of the Kolyma rivers and the magical beauty of the taiga, the world knows the fates of the people who experienced hell on earth in Kolyma. It is a godforsaken end of the world, where there is no distance for a hundred kilometers and a week's delay means nothing at all. Cursed Kolyma, the golden heart of Russia ...
🕔︎ 26.05.2005 👁︎ 20.724

Wing Commander, Lieutenant General (Ret.) Vladimir Nedved

Vladimír Nedvěd was accepted into the Czechoslovak Air Force in October 1936 and underwent a course in air navigation. He graduated from the Military College, from where he was expelled in 1938 as a lieutenant in the Air Force. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by German troops, he left the enemy's occupied homeland on December 9, 1939. Without travel documents, he got via Hungary, Yugoslavia, Greece and Turkey to Lebanon, from there in January 1940 on board a French ship to Marseilles. He again joined the ranks of the Free Czechoslovak Air Force in the Czechoslovak camp Agde in the south of France.
🕔︎ 13.12.2012 👁︎ 8.022

Wings up!

... then something else about Fajtl ...
🕔︎ 18.12.2006 👁︎ 16.027

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