Karel tripe washer

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Karel Miloslav Kuttelwascher (born September 23, 1916 in Svatý Kříž , Bohemia ; † August 17, 1959 in Truro , Great Britain) was the most successful Czechoslovak fighter pilot in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during the Second World War . In 2000 he was posthumously appointed Brigadier General.

Life

Karel Kuttelwascher, who graduated from a commercial school in Německý Brod , volunteered in the Czechoslovak Air Force in October 1935, where he attended an aviation school and began his military service as a pilot on April 1, 1937. After the occupation of Czechoslovakia , he fled to Poland and then went with other pilots to France, where the Czechoslovak Air Force was to be formed in exile. After a brief service in the Foreign Legion with a stay in North Africa, he traveled on to Great Britain, where he arrived on August 4, 1940.

On August 14, 1940, Kuttelwascher was accepted into the RAF, where, after completing an educational course on October 3, 1940, he joined the British Fighter Squadron No. 1 Squadron RAF - and not, like most compatriots, the Czechoslovak RAF units . Kuttelwascher served here for two years and participated as a pilot of various models of the Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft in the Battle of Britain and then in offensive night operations over Western Europe. His successful operations also included taking part in the pursuit of the German warships Scharnhorst , Gneisenau and Prinz Eugen on February 12, 1942 ( Cerberus company ); as a night pilot, he shot down 15 enemy aircraft, a total of 20 kills are attributed to him during his active service (all between February 2, 1941 and July 2, 1942); In the night of May 4, 1942 to May 5, 1942 he became the only RAF pilot who shot down a total of three enemy aircraft (three Heinkel He 111 ) not far from St. André airport, three kills within a single night over Western Europe four minutes. During this time, Kuttelwascher was flight lieutenant . Including his short time as a pilot in France, Kuttelwascher flew a total of 405 hours in action, including 220 hours over enemy territory and 190 hours at night.

On October 1, 1942, he was withdrawn from active service as a fighter pilot, he served as a liaison officer in the inspectorate of the Czechoslovak Air Force in London and made business trips to the USA and Canada, where, among other things, he gave lectures for American pilots at the Army Air Forces School of Applied Tactics held in Orlando. On his return to Great Britain he was assigned to the No 32 Maintenance Unit of the RAF in St Athan (Cardiff).

After the end of the war, Kuttelwascher first returned to Czechoslovakia in August 1945, where he worked as a flight instructor, but in June 1946 he applied for his discharge from the army and went back to Great Britain to live with his family. In October 1946 he was naturalized and got a job as a pilot with the BEA . He died of heart failure while on vacation.

On May 8, 2000 Karel Kuttelwascher was promoted in memoriam to Brigadier General in the Czech Republic .

Awards

Karel Kuttelwascher is the only Czechoslovak Air Force member to have twice received the prestigious British Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC & bar) award for members of the RAF.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ THE CZECH NIGHT HAWK , section Karel Kuttelwascher's Victories With The RAF , online at: rogerdarlington.me.uk / ...
  2. ↑ Karel M. Kuttelwascher, DFC & bar , Czech Spitfire Club portal, online at: czechspitfireclub.cz / ...

swell

  • KUTTELWASCHER Karel Miloslav , In: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945 , Publication of the Historical Military Institute of the Ministry of Defense of the Czech Republic, AVIS, Prague 2005, p. 167, online (archived) at: vojenskaakademiehranice.ic.cz / ...
  • Tripe washer, Karel , overview on portal valka.cz, online at: forum.valka.cz / ...

literature

  • Roger Darlington: Night Hawk , The biography of Flight Lieutenant Karel Kuttelwascher, DFC and Bar, William Kimber, London 1985, ISBN 0-7183-0574-4

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Tripe washer, Karel
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Tripe washer, Karel Miloslav (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Czechoslovak fighter pilot in the British Royal Air Force
DATE OF BIRTH September 23, 1916
PLACE OF BIRTH Svatý Kříž, today part of Havlíčkův Brod
DATE OF DEATH 17th August 1959
Place of death Truro (Cornwall)