Generál Fajtl slovem historika, rodiny a objektive – Rajlich Jiří

A representative biography, generously supported by visual material, of a true legend of Czechoslovak aviation. Retired Lieutenant General František Fajtl (2012-2006), whose birth we commemorate this year with a full hundred years, and with whom we last said goodbye six years ago, is probably our most famous wartime pilot. Moreover, not only on the Western front but also on the Eastern front. If anyone even slightly knowledgeable cannot recall the name of any of them, they will likely remember his. Primarily because he had enough talent to transform his experiences into literary works, through which his name reached a wider audience. And let us add that this ensured that the general awareness of Czechoslovak wartime pilots did not fade away even during the normalization period. After the Nazi occupation, the young active officer of the Czechoslovak Air Force was among those who did not give up. After fleeing to neighboring Poland, he sailed to France, where he underwent his baptism of fire in its skies. After its fall, he found himself in Great Britain under dramatic circumstances, where he soon donned the RAF uniform and immediately participated in the Battle of Britain. He became one of only 89 Czechoslovak fighter pilots with the status of a participant in this key conflict, one of the legendary...