Czech war-photographer Sitenský dies at 90

The Czech photographer Ladislav Sitenský, renowned for his World War II pictures of Czech and Slovak pilots in Britain, has died at the age of 90. Sitenský became the official photographer for the Czechoslovak air force in Britain in 1942, after fleeing from his Nazi-occupied homeland. He joined the British Royal Air Force's 312 fighter squadron, which was manned by his countrymen, capturing the pilots in action and at rest and producing a vivid and powerful account of the war.

After the war Sitenský turned down an offer to join the British Sunday Times newspaper as a photographer, returning home to Czechoslovakia instead. He made a living photographing landscapes, portraits and sport and was persecuted during communist rule. Sitenský produced more than half a million pictures and was decorated more than 10 times by Czechoslovakia, Britain and France.