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Current AffairsCzech World War II pilot dies aged 88
Early Thursday morning, Brigadier Stanislav Hlučka, a revered Czech pilot
who served in the RAF during the Second World War, died aged 88 in a
military hospital in Prague. We take brief a look at the life of this
much-decorated anti-Nazi resistance fighter, who found himself imprisoned
by the communists after the 1948 coup.
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From the ArchivesCzechs, Slovaks and Poles among “The Few”
When Nazi Germany occupied Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, many Czech
and Slovak professional soldiers and airmen decided to escape from the
country, rather than hand over arms to the Germans. Six months later war
broke out and many of them joined the French armed forces. When France was
occupied, they escaped to Britain. This was how the Royal Air Force’s 310
and 312 Czechoslovak Fighter Squadrons came to be set up in July and August
1940, and they went on to play an important role in the Battle of Britain.
They were also joined by the 311 Bomber Squadron. Just before Christmas in
1942, the BBC’s Czech service broadcast a special programme featuring the
airmen and their British and Polish colleagues to help raise morale back
home.
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MailboxMailbox
This week in Mailbox: Czech folk music on Radio Prague, General Frantisek
Fajtl, BJ Prochazka's tour around the world, the 70th birthday of Vaclav
Havel. Listeners quoted: Marty Sultan, Gina Hearn, Mike Talbot, Mike
Safranek, Roger Coates, Lynda-Marie Hauptman, Mary Lou Krenek, David
Eldridge. More
Czechs TodayFrantisek Perina - Czechoslovakia's ace pilot who made his name in the Battle of France
Anyone acquainted with Czech military history will likely have heard
of ace pilot Frantisek Perina - who fought with distinction for
Czechoslovakia in both the Battles of France and Britain during the Second
World War. Mr Perina - named to the honorary rank of major general in 2000
- turned 95 just last month - and was honoured by the Czech Army and Air
Force. On the occasion of the anniversary of the end of the war, we
look back at key moments in Mr Perina's military
career - ignored by the Communists for forty years. More
Current AffairsBattle of Britain: Remembering the Czech aces among 'The Few'
This week marks the 65th anniversary of the turning point in the
"Battle of Britain," when Royal Air Force pilots gunned down 185
German planes in a single day. Ahead of the battle, the Luftwaffe
outnumbered the RAF by more than three to one, and Adolf Hitler was
expecting a decisive victory that would allow him to mount a full-scale
invasion of the British Isles. Among the RAF fighting men who came to be
known as "The Few" were almost ninety Czechoslovaks -- including
the top scoring pilot of the entire battle. More
ArtsLibuse Konradova: "RAF pilots are my biggest heroes"
The Czech writer and journalist Libuse Konradova has just written a book
about the life of Jaroslav Novak, a navigator of the British Royal Air
Force during the World War II. In the book Novak recalls his childhood,
the beginning of the war and his joining the Czechoslovak Air Force, as
well as his dramatic escape from the country, at the beginning of the Nazi
occupation. In the major part of the book Libuse Konradova explains
Novak's
operations as an RAF pilot including the Battle of Britain. In the end she
describes the disillusionment the pilot experienced in post-war
Czechoslovakia, and how once again he was driven into exile. I asked
Libuse Konradova what she has learned while writing the story and she told
me of the complications pilots faced in escaping to Britain at the
beginning of the war. More
Current AffairsPresident Klaus awards state honours to 21 personalities
Thursday was a state holiday in the Czech Republic on which Czechs
celebrated "independence day" - the 86th anniversary of the
birth of Czechoslovakia.For twenty one Czechs the occasion was very
special indeed. They received high state distinctions from President Klaus
in a ceremony which was broadcast live on national television.
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