No. 311 Squadron RAF
| 311st RAF bomber squadron | |
| 311. československá bombardovací peruť RAF | |
| № 311 (Czechoslovak) Bomber Squadron | |
|
|
| Motto: |
Na množství nehleďte
Don't look at the crowd |
| Code: |
|
| Originated: |
|
| Dissolved |
|
The 311st bomber squadron was one of the four RAF air forces of the Czechoslovak Army in Exile that participated as units of the Royal Air Force (RAF) in the fighting of the British Air Force during World War II in Europe.
history
The 311st bomber squadron was the second of all Czechoslovak Royal Air Force squadrons that formed in Great Britain and had participated in the fighting. It was created on July 29, 1940 in Honington (County Suffolk ) from members of the Czechoslovak Air Force who fled to France after the occupation of their country by the Wehrmacht and served there; after the collapse of France they finally came to England. The operations of the 311st bomber squadron can be divided into two phases: From July 29, 1940, it was part of the 3rd group (No. 3 Group) of the High Command Bomber Command , on 28/30. April 1942 she was then assigned to the Coastal Command , where she - with one exception - flew her missions until the end of the war.
The first use at Bomber Command took place on 10/11. September 1940 with an attack on Brussels Central Station. After that, more destinations in France and Belgium, in the Netherlands and especially in Germany were flown to. On September 23, Berlin was bombed with three planes. The cities served included u. a. Vlissingen, Boulogne-sur-Mer, Brest, Paris and Turin, in Germany, in addition to Berlin, Cologne, Bonn, Essen and Kiel. During the two-year affiliation to the Bomber Command 1029 sorties totaling 5,192 hours flown on a total of 77 targets, with the squadron dropping 1320 tons of bombs and at least three night fighters. It was one of the best squadrons of the Bomber Command, but the losses were also high: 22 of the 52 crews deployed were shot down or captured. Because there was no offspring or replacement in the Czechoslovak squadrons, it was decided to place the weakened unit under the command of the Coastal Command in spring 1942.
Shortly after being assigned to the Coastal Command, on the night of 25/26. June 1942 several units, including the 311st squadron, participated in the third "1000 bomber raid" (about: attack by a thousand bombers ) on Bremen.
After the season on 28./30. April 1942 the No. 19. Group des Coastal Command was assigned, their area of operation was the Bay of Biscay , where they had the task of locating and attacking enemy submarines and convoys. She thus took an active part in the Battle of the Atlantic . At the turn of the year 1942/1943, the 311st squadron was evaluated as the best within the Coastal Command. In August 1944 the squadron moved to Tain , Scotland, and controlled the Baltic States and the Norwegian coast. After being assigned to the Coastal Command in 1942, the squadron flew 2102 sorties with 21,527 hours. During the missions, the unit sank a large transporter, damaged four other ships and several small ships, attacked 35 German submarines, sank four, and took out about 17 German fighter planes.
On June 4, 1945, the squadron's war missions were ended and she was placed under the Transport Command . Flights with unarmed Liberators were undertaken with the purpose of transporting the personnel, facilities and archives of the Czechoslovak government in exile from London to Prague. The squadron was disbanded on February 15, 1946 as an RAF unit and has become part of the new Czechoslovak Air Force.
The members of the bomber squadron - like the other soldiers fighting in the RAF - had to wait in Czechoslovakia until after 1989 in order to gain recognition that the communist regime denied them. However, they fared similarly to the other veterans of the Bomber Command squadrons in Great Britain. The very controversial reception of the attacks on cities and civilians in Germany meant that in Great Britain their contribution to the victory over Hitler's Germany was ignored for a long time. Only on June 28, 2012, almost 70 years after the end of World War II, was the 55,573 fallen members of the Bomber Command commemorated and a memorial was unveiled near London's Hyde Park Corner ; In addition to the Duke of Edinburgh , Prince of Wales and Duchess of Cornwall , Queen Elizabeth II was also present.
On November 1, 2008, the 438th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron (438th AEAS) was activated at Hamid Karzai International Airport in Kabul . The season was renamed the 311th AEAS in February 2016 in memory of the previous 311st season. Their task was to train Afghan helicopter crews on the Mi-17V and Mi-25 . It was deactivated on February 13, 2019.
Overviews
bases
The 311st Squadron flew their missions from the following bases:
|
|
The flights under the Transport Command to Prague also took place from the Manston, Pershore and Blackbushe locations.
Planes
The squadron was equipped with different types of Vickers Wellington and Consolidated Liberator bomber aircraft:
- Vickers Wellington I *, IA *, IC, III, X
- Consolidated Liberator GR III *, GR V, GR VI (since May 1943, also known as B24)
The models marked with an asterisk were used for training purposes only. The machines flew under the British emblem of the RAF, but had their own codes: KX for the Wellington machines and PP for the Liberator machines.
Personnel and losses
There were 8 commanders in the 311st Squadron, plus 8 commanders from Swarm A and 10 commanders from Swarm B.
Of all units, the 311 bomber squadron suffered the heaviest losses. Depending on the source, the casualties are stated differently: They are between 273 and 250 dead, 94 of them during the operations under the Bomber Command and 156 people during the operations under the Coastal Command, the number of captured soldiers is given as 35.
Commanders of the entire squadron
| Karel Toman-Mareš | 07/29/1940 - 03/19/1941 |
| Josef Schejbal | 19.03.1941 - 03.07.1941 |
| Josef Ocelka | 07/03/1941 - 04/20/1942 |
| Josef Šnajdr | April 20, 1942 - February 1, 1943 |
| Jindřich Breitcetl | 02/01/1943 - 08/21/1943 |
| Vladimír Nedvěd | 08/21/1943 - 02/03/1944 |
| Josef Šejbl | 02/03/1944 - 09/01/1944 |
| Jan Kostohryz | 09/01/1944 - 08/13/1945 |
Swarm Commanders "A"
| Josef Schejbal | 08/02/1940 - 03/20/1941 |
| Josef Šnajdr | May 27, 1941 - April 20, 1942 |
| Karel Náprstek | October 21, 1941 - January 15, 1942 |
| Lubomír Svátek | 03/15/1942 - 04/27/1942 |
| Josef Šejbl | 04/27/1942 - 01/14/1943 |
| Vladimír Nedvěd | 11/01/1942 - 08/21/1943 |
| Jan Kostohryz | 08/21/1943 - 09/01/1944 |
| Alois Šedivý | 07.09.1944 - 13.08.1945 |
Swarm Commanders "B"
| Jan Veselý | 08/02/1940 - 10/17/1940 |
| Josef Ocelka | January 17, 1941 - July 2, 1941 |
| Jindřich Breitcetl | 07/02/1941 - 08/20/1941 |
| Josef Šejbl | 08/20/1941 - 01/03/1942 |
| Josef Stransky | 03/27/1942 - 02/01/1943 |
| Bohumil Liška | 01/24/1943 - 05/27/1943 |
| Václav Korda | 06/01/1943 - 01/30/1944 |
| Bohuslav Tobýska | 03/01/1944 - 06/11/1944 |
| Karel Kvapil | 11/06/1944 - 01/10/1945 |
| Vlastimil Ondruj | January 11, 1945 - August 13, 1945 |
The six to eight-person crews of the individual aircraft were always commanded by the first pilot, regardless of his military rank, following the pattern of the British Air Force at the time.
Remarks
- ↑ A battle saying of the Hussites
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Czechoslovaks in the RAF , 8. The Record , online at: rogerdarlington.me.uk/czechsinraf ... , accessed March 12, 2012
- ^ Memorial to British bomber pilots in London , Die Welt, June 28, 2012, online at: welt.de/politik/ausland / ... , accessed on June 12, 2012
- ↑ Queen unveils RAF Bomber Command memorial , BBC news June 28, 2012, online at: bbc.co.uk/news/uk-18600871 , accessed July 12, 2012
- ↑ Afganistan - 311th Air Expeditionary Advisory Squadron, home of the 221st season of the Czech Armed Forces, accessed on February 15, 2019
- ↑ 311 Squadron recognized for their work in Afghanistan, RAF News, February 13, 2019
- ↑ Information from the portal cz-raf.hyperlink, online at: cz-raf.hyperlink.cz , accessed on March 7, 2012
- ↑ No. 311 Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron , online at: cz-raf.hyperlink.cz / ... ; see. also aircraft of seasons 310-330 , rafweb.org / ... , both accessed on March 6, 2012
- ↑ No. 311 Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron , online at: cz-raf.hyperlink.cz/Units/311 ; see. also the list of members of the squadron, List of Czechoslovak airmen at No. 311 Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron , online at: cz-raf.hyperlink.cz/Units/staff311 , with links to the directory of pilots, navigators, gunmen, radio operators, etc. a., both accessed on March 9, 2012
- ↑ Statistics of Czechoslovak Airmen in the Royal Air Force Voluntary Reserve , online at: cz-raf.hyperlink.cz/Units/cz_stat , accessed March 7, 2012
- ↑ 311. československá bombardovací peruť , online at cs-letci.wz.cz / ... ( memento of the original from August 8, 2014 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. , Czech, accessed April 15, 2012
swell
- History of 311 Squadron , online at: raf.mod.uk/history / ... , accessed March 12, 2012
- No 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron , online at: rafweb.org/...#311 , accessed March 12, 2012
- 311. československá stíhací peruť , online at: cs-letci.wz.cz/...311.htm , in Czech, accessed on March 12, 2012
- No. 311 Czechoslovak squadron RAF , online at: druha.svetova.cz/...#No.-311-Czechoslovak-squadron-RAF , Czech, accessed March 12, 2012
See also
- Czechoslovak air force units in the RAF
- No. 310 Squadron RAF
- No. 312 Squadron RAF
- No. 313 Squadron RAF
- Royal Air Force
