RAF Service
He rejoined the RAF in 1939 and, being a naturally gifted fighter pilot, commanded No. 310 Squadron RAF a Czech fighter squadron during the Battle of Britain. In August 1940 during the Battle of Britain, he was forced to bale out over Clacton. After a night of German bombing of the City of London, he was on dawn patrol and from his plane at 25,000 feet over the North Weald he could see the thick smoke from the fires which destroyed Blackwood's business premises in Paternoster Square. He ended the Second World War as Wing Commander commanding the Czech Fighter Wing in the RAF Second Tactical Air Force. He was decorated with the Czech War Cross and Czech Military Medal and was presented with the Czech Medal of George of Poděbrady in 1993.
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Famous quotes containing the word service:
“Whatever events in progress shall disgust men with cities, and infuse into them the passion for country life, and country pleasures, will render a service to the whole face of this continent, and will further the most poetic of all the occupations of real life, the bringing out by art the native but hidden graces of the landscape.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)