František Fajtl

František Fajtl

František Fajtl (born August 20, 1912 in Donín , † October 4, 2006 in Prague ) was a Czech pilot and officer . He was one of the Czechoslovak aviators who fought against National Socialist Germany in the Royal Air Force from England during World War II and later also in the Red Army .

Life

Before the war, Fajtl studied at the military academy in Hranice na Moravě . After the occupation of Czechoslovakia by the Germans, he fled to France in May 1939 , where he served in the Armée de l'air . After France was occupied by the Germans, he fled to Great Britain via North Africa and joined the Royal Air Force.

Fajtl was a member of the 1st and 17th squadrons as well as the 313th Czechoslovak squadron and later commanded them. He shot down four German planes in the Battle of Britain and was shot down over France in 1942. He managed to get back to England via Spain, where he resumed his service. At the beginning of 1944, he and 19 Czech pilots arrived in the Soviet Union via Gibraltar, Cairo and Tehran , where the 1st Czechoslovak Air Wing, equipped with La-5FN and Fajtl as commander, was set up in June of the same year. During the Slovak National Uprising from September 15 to October 25, 1944, it flew a total of 566 sorties against German troops from the Zolná and Tri Duby airfields . After the failure of the uprising, the squadron was relocated back to the Soviet Union and integrated into the 1st Czechoslovakian Mixed Aviation Division, which had been established in the meantime. Fajtl served there until the end of the war.

In 1945 he returned to Czechoslovakia. As a “Western fighter” and thus as a “ popular enemy ”, he was demoted under the communist regime in 1949, arrested and sentenced to forced labor in a show trial . After his release he worked as a warehouse clerk. Since he had also served in the Soviet Union, the then Czechoslovak government under Klement Gottwald could not completely make him a non-person. In 1964 he was partially rehabilitated. After the "Velvet Revolution" in 1989, at the age of 77, he received the title of general.

In 2004 Fajtl received the Order of the White Lion , the highest honor in the Czech Republic, from the hand of Czech President Václav Klaus .

Planes

• Morane-Saulnier MS406 C.1
• Marcel Bloch MB151 C.1
• Marcel Bloch MB152 C.1
• Hawker Hurricane Mk.I (P3788, YB-X; V6553, YB-J; P3894, YB-V)
• Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIA
• Supermarine Spitfire Mk.VB (BM210, MT-F; MB117, RY-A; MB127, RY-F)
• Lavochkin La-5 FN / La-5UTI
• Lavochkin La-7

Awards

• 4 × Czechoslovak War Cross 1939
• Distinguished Flying Cross
• Order of the Legion of Honor ( Légion d'honneur )
• Order of the Slovak People's Uprising 1st class ( Řád Slovenského národního povstání 1st třídy )
• Order of Victory ( Řád Za vítězství )
• Order of the White Lion ( Řád Bílého lva )
• Honorary Citizen of Prague 2002

Works

Fajtl has documented his war experiences in numerous autobiographical books. In Czech :

• Bitva o Británii (1991) ( The Battle of Britain )
• Létal jsem s Třistatřináctkou (1991) ( I flew with the 313 )
• Sestřelen (1991) ( Shot down )
• Generál nebe (1992) ( The General of Heaven )
• První doma (1974) (At home for the first time )
• Opět doma ( back home )
• Vzpomínky na padlé kamarády ( Memories of the fallen comrades )
• Buje a návraty ( fighting and homecoming )

• The German translation of První doma was published in 1979 by the GDR military publishing house under the title As first in the homeland .