W/Cdr DOLEZAL Frantisek

Fajtl F.: Letal jsem s tristatrinactkou

Official No.: 82 593 Date and place of birth: 14th September 1909, Ceska Trebova Date and place of death: 4th October 1945, Bucovice

War Service

Unit	Since	To	Rank
310	06.08.1940	27.08.1940	P/O
19	27.08.1940	29.10.1940	P/O
310	29.10.1940	15.01.1943	P/O - S/Ldr
Czechoslovak Wing	01.04.1943	01.02.1944	W/Cdr
CIG	01.02.1944	November 1944	W/Cdr
US Army College	November 1944	January 1945	W/Cdr
CIG	January 1945	16.05.1945	W/Cdr

On 6th August 1940 he came to No. 310 Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron from Czechoslovak Depot at Cosford. After short retrainig on Hurricane he was on 27th August moved with other three pilots to No. 19 Squadron. There he passed retraining on Spitfire and became operational pilot. On 11th September he was wounded on foot during patrol over London. His Spitfire I N3046 was damaged at 16.05 in fight with enemy Bf109. On 29th October he finished his short service at No. 19 Squadron and he returned to No. 310 Squadron where he became the leader of the flight "A" on 12th December 1940. From 7th April 1942 he was the leader of whole No. 310 Squadron and on 1st September 1942 he was awarded D.F.C. for his excellent service. On 15th January 1943 he left unit for the rest and on 1st April 1943 he returned to operational duty and he became the leader of the Czechoslovak Fighter Wing which consisted from Nos. 310, 312 and 313 Squadrons. On 17th June 1944 he obtained D.S.O. for his perfect commanding skill. On 1st February 1944 he finished his operational duty and he was transfered to the Czechoslovak Inspectorate General (CIG) in London. In November 1944 he left Great Britain and with W/Cdr Stanislav Dvorsky (navigator from No. 311 Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron) he sailed to USA. There they graduated on Command and General Staff College US Army in Kansas in December 1945. After his return to Great Britain in January 1945 he served as staff officer at Czechoslovak Inspectorate General (CIG) till the end of war. He returned to Czecholovakia as the one of the first RAF pilots, on 17th May 1945. Shortly after his return to Czechoslovakia, on 4th October 1945, he died as passenger in crash of Siebel Si 204 at Bucovice in Moravia. He was one of the most popular commanding officers in history of Czechoslovak Air Force. He was many-sided officer, very inteligent, jokeful and ever optimist. He like flying, art and music. He was good sportsman, so No. 310 Squadron under his commanding won not only dogfights but football matches too. In position of wing commander he had complete card-index of all his pilots with many details from their service and private life in his memory.