”Poles and Czechs were not permitted to participate in the air fighting until they had mastered the rudiments of the English language and flying procedures. When they did start operations, these homeless men, motivated often by a hatred bordering upon despair, fought with a terrible and merciless dedication.”
Len Deighton, Fighter
Sergeant Joseph František was a Czech pilot who, after fighting the Germans in Poland and France, was assigned at his request to the Polish 303 Squadron, where he became the fourth-highest scoring ace in the Battle of Britain. Given his undisciplined tendency to break rank in pursuit of the enemy, it was thought less dangerous to his colleagues if František were to continue with the squadron as their "guest," flying patrols on his own.
On September 2, 1940, only a month after being posted, he shot down the first of seventeen German planes (and a final probable), a feat all the more remarkable in that they occurred within a single month of the four-month long battle. Awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal, a bar was posthumously added after František's death on October 8, a day after his twenty-seventh birthday.
Here, the plane is not as interesting as the person. This is František's first mount and one of several Hurricane Mk Is that he flew, including a damaged plane that crashed during landing and the one in which he died.
RFU can be downloaded
here.
10-12-2011, 10:14 PM
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