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In the first half of 1941, when Spitfire Mk.V fighters began to equip the
fighter squadrons of the Britain’s RAF, a total of three fighter units with
the designation ‘Czechoslovak’ operated within the service. These were
squadrons No. 310, No. 312 and No. 313. The first two, founded in 1940, had
Hawker Hurricane Mk.IIa and Mk.IIbs in their inventory. Only No. 313 Sqn,
established on May 10, 1941 at Catterick, was armed with the Supermarine
Spitfire, and it was not until August of 1941 that it went from flying the Mk.Ia
to the Mk.IIa.
At that time it was already clear that if No. 310 and No. 312 Sqn were to
maintain their status as a fighter unit, they would necessarily need to
convert to a more potent aircraft. At the same time, the pressure to create
a higher Czechoslovak unit, a Wing, within which all three Czechoslovak
fighter squadrons would operate together, grew stronger. The first
prerequisite for its creation was the standardization of the equipment of
all three squadrons.
Gradual retrainingGradual retraining
No. 310 Sqn and No. 312 Sqn personnel were required to convert from
existing Hurricanes to the more powerful Spitfire, which offered greater
potential for further development. On July 19, 1941, No. 310 Sqn moved to the
base at Dyce in Scotland, where it carried out patrol duties with its Mk.IIa
and Mk.IIb Hurricanes. In the second half of October 1942, the unit took over
the first older Spitfires intended for conversion training. There was one
Mk.Ia Spitfire and fifteen Mk.IIa fighters on hand. At the end of October
1941, retraining on Spitfires began, while the unit continued to perform
operational patrols in their Hurricanes. At the beginning of November 1941,
the unit took over another four Spitfire Mk.IIas. In mid-November, the first
Mk.Vb Spitfires, which were to become the unit’s new weapon, began to
arrive.
A portion of the pilots with the new fighters joined the operational patrol
duties as early as November 25, 1941. However, some of them continued
to fly operational flights with Hurricanes until December 9, 1941. From the
following day, No. 310 Sqn performed operational patrols exclusively with
new equipment, the Spitfire Mk.Vb. These were from the AD series produced
at the Castle Bromwich factory and No. 310 Sqn was their first user
(AD328, AD331, AD365, AD366, AD374, AD378, AD382, AD412, AD414, AD420,
AD422, AD423, AD453, AD462, AD464, AD574, AD582). After re-equipping,
No. 310 Sqn moved to Perranporth in Cornwall on December 24, 1941.
No. 312 Sq. moved its Hurricane Mk.IIbs to Prestwick, Scotland, on August 19,
1941, RAF Ayr, and on October 20, 1942, it received the first six older Spitfires
destined for conversion training. There were five aircraft of the Mk.IIa
version and one of the Mk.IIb version with wing cannons. The machines
were assigned to B Flight and retraining of personnel began immediately.
By October 25, 1941, however, the first Spitfire loss occurred at No. 312 Sqn,
when P/O Hekl, during a training flight with P75410 coded DU
-
W, clipped
a wing on the surface of Loch Doon and was killed as a result. In November
1941, the unit took over from sister squadron No. 313 Sqn another three
Mk.IIa Spitfires for the same purpose of converting. In early December
1941, No. 312 Sqn received its first Spitfire Mk.Vbs, which were to become
its new main armament. These were mostly new airframes produced by
the Castle Bromwich factory from the AD (AD415, AD539, AD541, AD553,
AD572) and BL ranges (BL252, BL254, BL260, BL289, BL293, BL343, BL381,
BL470, BL487, BL512, BL516, BL529). The exception was the Eastleigh-built
plane serialed AB172. The older aircraft from the W series (W3249, W3445)
came from the same manufacturer, and R6833, originally produced as
a Mk.Ia , which was rebuilt in 1940 and received a wing cannon, was a rarity.
It was then used for testing and in February 1941 it was converted to a Mk.Vb.
This was complemented by the addition of two Mk.IIb airframes, taken from
No. 616 Sqn. After the rearmament was completed, No. 312 Sqn moved to
Fairwood Common on January 1, 1942.
Relatively speaking, the smoothest transition was experienced by No. 313
Sqn, flying their Spitfire Mk.IIas from Portreath. The unit took delivery of
its first Spitfire Mk.Vb in the second half of October. The re-armament took
place on a continuous basis and the airmen with the new fighters were
Czechoslovak fighter pilots made their mark in the history of World War II air combat on Czechoslovak fighter pilots made their mark in the history of World War II air combat on
several fronts, but the most significant was undoubtedly their service in the Royal Air several fronts, but the most significant was undoubtedly their service in the Royal Air
Force. And the aircraft used by the Czechoslovaks in the most numerous numbers was the Force. And the aircraft used by the Czechoslovaks in the most numerous numbers was the
Spitfire Mk.V. It stayed in operational service of each Squadron and subsequently the entire Spitfire Mk.V. It stayed in operational service of each Squadron and subsequently the entire
Czechoslovak Wing until January 1944, when it was replaced by the Mk.IX version. Czechoslovak Wing until January 1944, when it was replaced by the Mk.IX version.
text text KAREL TŮMAKAREL TŮMA
(photos by Karel Beinhauer, (photos by Karel Beinhauer,
No. 313. Squadron RAF; via Radim Vojta)No. 313. Squadron RAF; via Radim Vojta)
THEY FOUGHT TO REBUILDTHEY FOUGHT TO REBUILD
Spitfires of No. 312 Squadron at Ibsley airfield in September 1943. Spitfires of No. 312 Squadron at Ibsley airfield in September 1943.
In the foreground Spitfire BM567 DUIn the foreground Spitfire BM567 DU
--
Z which was very often flown Z which was very often flown
by F/Lt Josef Stehlik. Photo Ing. Karel Beinhauerby F/Lt Josef Stehlik. Photo Ing. Karel Beinhauer
Czechoslovak Pilots and the Spitfire Mk.V
HISTORY
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October 2024