Stanislav Fejfar - A Fighter Pilots Call to Arms: Defending Britain and France Against the Luftwaffe, 1940-1942

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This book is dedicated to all the Czech airmen who fought and died with the RAF during WWII.

Published by
Grub Street
4 Rainham Close
London
SW11 6SS

Copyright Grub Street 2010
Copyright text Stanislav Fejfar, Norman Franks with Simon Muggleton

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
Fejfar, Stanislav

A fighter pilots call to arms: defending Britain and
France against the Luftwaffe, 19401942.
1. Fejfar, Stanislav. 2. World War, 19391945 Personal
narratives, Czech. 3. World War, 19391945 Aerial
operations, British. 4. Great Britain. Royal Air Force.
Squadron, No. 310 Biography.
I. Title. II. Franks, Norman L R III. Muggleton, Simon.
940.544941092dc22

ISBN-13: 9781906502768
ePub ISBN: 9781908117700

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,
stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means
electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.

Cover design by Sarah Driver
Typeset by Pearl Graphics, Hemel Hempstead
Printed and bound by MPG Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall
Grub Street Publishing only uses
FSC (Forest Stewardship Council) paper for its books.

Contents

Introduction

Squadron Leader Henry Prokop at the end of the war.

In November 1994 I was contacted by a fellow medal collector and good friend, the late Chris John who was aware that I had an interest in the Battle of France and Battle of Britain periods. Indeed, I had obtained several medal groups in my collection from Chris over the years, and he knew I was particularly interested in the part played in both air battles by the Czechs and Poles. Chris informed me that he had just returned from the Czech Republic searching for interesting medal groups and associated militaria, and had found something which may be of interest to me. He had located a copy of the personal diary of Flight Lieutenant Stanislav Fejfar along with his medals, photograph album, some official papers, and his pre-war leather flying coat, gloves and helmet.

This was an opportunity not to be missed as a quick search in my reference books showed Fejfar to be a famous Czech flying ace, who had been killed in action in 1942 flying over the Channel, shot down by the well known German fighter pilot, Oberst Josef Pips Priller. Although the diary was obviously written in Czechoslovakian, as were most of the official papers, I knew when I saw them I had somehow to get these published in English and tell this heroic pilot's story.

So I started my quest for further information on Fejfar, beginning with contacting Wing Commander Gordon Sinclair OBE DFC, the senior flight commander in 310 Squadron during the Battle of Britain. He in turn suggested that I make contact with Henry Prokop, a retired Czechoslovakian squadron leader who had served as a flight engineer with 310 Squadron during the war.

As soon as Henry Prokop saw the papers and photograph album he was enthused to start translating the documents straight away. Henry had escaped from Czechoslovakia at the same time as Fejfar taking virtually the same route through Poland and serving in the French Foreign Legion before travelling to England in order to join the RAF.

On occasions Henry had actually worked on Fejfar's aircraft in both 310 and 313 Squadrons, and had spoken to him many times whilst doing so. It is due to his magnificent effort and love of the old Czechoslovakia that this book began to be written in its present form.

Since acquiring Fejfar's effects in 1994, enquiries revealed that the hand-written copy of the diary was given to an English girl-friend called Yvonne after his death in 1942. He had met her whilst recuperating in hospital at Torquay and she is mentioned in the diary. She retained it for many years after the war but eventually decided that it should be returned to Stanislav's native land. Its current whereabouts, however, are unknown.

The diary was published in 1970 in verbatim form and Norman Franks and I decided that Henry Prokop's translation should be annotated with information pertaining to his early life, the operations in which Fejfar was involved, as well as presenting a useful background to the war and battles in which he and his Czech comrades were engaged. This brings the whole story alive and gives it a more rounded presentation.

In 2007, Ladislav Kudrna had his book Na Zemi A Oblose Zpadn Evropy published, again in the Czech language (see Bibliography). The book is written around the story of Fejfar and his diary, and is quite comprehensive, but again not in English, and is different in format to this present offering.

Simon Muggleton

Foreword

On finishing reading this magnificent translation of Stanislav Fejfar's diaries my first thought is to congratulate the translator in producing such a vivid and readable English version. He has made Fejfar's thoughts come to life in a way which prompts many nostalgic memories of those far-off days.

Stanislav Fejfar was one of a group of Czechoslovakian pilots, who formed the nucleus of 310 (Czech squadron) of which I had the honour of helping to form and build up immediately before the Battle of Britain in June-July 1940.

Like the other pilots and the ground crew, Fejfar spoke no English when he arrived at Duxford, but his intentions were clear from the outset, to get at the Germans.

That he and his fellow pilots fulfilled their intentions became abundantly clear from the moment that 310 Squadron was declared operationally fit to join the Battle.

I flew with Fejfar on many sorties, over the Thames estuary in particular, meeting up with Luftwaffe bombers and their escorting fighters. I can only say that it was a wonderful comfort to me knowing that I was fighting with such gallant and determined men as Fejfar and his fellow Czechs.

His diaries are a vivid reminder of what he represented in gallantry and courage.

Wing Commander G L Sinclair OBE DFC

Acknowledgements

Over the years the authors have received very welcome encouragement, assistance and correspondence from a number of veterans, some of whom they have had the pleasure of meeting. Simon in particular has contacted a number of people from the Czech Republic. In particular, he wishes to record the tremendous help from the late Henry Prokop, not only in translating the diary into English but also in providing anecdotes. This book could not have been written without him.

Pavel Vancata in Prague is thanked for his help in identifying photographs, documents, and his tremendous knowledge regarding the Czechs and their involvement with the RAF in WW2. Others who have freely given their help and support are: Andy Saunders, for his unending knowledge of the Battle of Britain. Gordon Leith of the RAF Museum. Christopher F Shores. The Free Czech Air Force Association. Lucie Harmer (ne Cernamska) for additional translating. Tania Spottiswoode for typing up the original translation. The Keeper and staff of the National Archives at Kew.

Finally, our wives Heather and Jill, who put up with our hobby, which is a pretty solitary occupation, but is helped with their unswerving love and support.

Preface

I am sweating a bit and immediately order the Tally Ho! At this altitude this fight is for life and quite possibly, death. I attack the nearest 190 in that micro-second and after pressing the firing button I see the enemy pilot climbing out of his cockpit, but I do not see the subsequent parachute canopy. I cannot and must not muddle my thoughts because I now notice white tracers approaching my Spitfire. I flick my machine into a spin at once what else can I do? to avoid two FW190s that suddenly appear. However, they pass me and head towards some Spitfires below.

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