Strana 50
AR423, F/Lt František Trejtnar, No. 310 Squadron, RAF Ibsley, Hampshire, United Kingdom,
September 1943-February 1944
AD572, F/O František Peřina, No. 312 Squadron, RAF Harrowbeer, Devon, United Kingdom,
February-June 1942
František Trejtnar was born on March 7, 1917.
He graduated from the aviation school in Prostějov
and became a pilot in the Czechoslovak army.
After the occupation of Bohemia and Moravia by
Germans in 1939, he went to Poland. In a short
time, he went to France, where he was accepted
into the Foreign Legion. When the war broke out
with the German attack on Gdansk, Poland, on
September 1, 1939, he was transferred to the
forming Czechoslovak Foreign Army in France
and sent to retraining as a pilot. After the fall
of France, he left Port Vendres for Gibraltar and
from there he sailed to Liverpool aboard Neuralia
ship. In the UK he was accepted into the Royal Air
Force at the end of July 1940. In early November
1940 he was posted to No. 310 (Czechoslovak)
Squadron at Duxford. He fought with the unit
throughout his wartime career, during which he
scored one Fw 190 shot down and two damaged.
On June 23, 1942, during a combat with an Fw 190,
František Trejtnar and his opponent went deep
into English territory. Czech pilot was shot down
during the engagement, had to bail out and broke
his leg when he hit the ground on the parachute.
The disoriented German pilot, Oblt. Armin Faber,
landed his Fw 190 to the amazement of all at
the British base at Pembrey. The Britons thus
got their hands on a completely undamaged
Fw 190A-3, which they subsequently subjected to
a series of tests and practice dogfights. František
Trejtnar flew the AR423 Spitfire shown here
regularly from September 1943 to February 1944
as B Squadron Commander of No. 310 Squadron.
The tank cover bore the donation inscription The
ROBINSON Fighter.
František Peřina was the first Czechoslovak
fighter pilot, who achieved five confirmed kills
and became ace. Born in 1911 in the village of
Morkůvky near Břeclav, he left for Poland after
the Munich dictate, from where he later headed
by ship to France, where he retrained on Curtiss
Hawk H-75 fighters. In December 1939 he became
one of the first twenty Czechoslovak fighters
sent to the Western Front. He was assigned to
the famous Groupe de Chasse 1/5, where he flew
mostly as the wingman of commander of the
1st Escadrille, Capitaine Jean Accart. During the
three weeks of the French campaign, he shot
down 11 aircraft confirmed and two probably.
After the surrender of France, he continued on
to the UK via Gibraltar by boat. He was accepted
into the RAF at the rank of Pilot Officer and in
September 1940 was posted to the recently
formed No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron. In its
ranks he participated first in the Battle of Britain
and later in offensive sweeps over the occupied
continent. During these actions he closed his
combat score by shooting down an Fw 190. During
World War II he was credited with shooting down
12 aircraft confirmed, two probably and one
aircraft damaged. After the war he returned
to his homeland but was forced to emigrate in
1949 after the Communists took over. He spent
several years as a pilot in the British Royal
Air Force, later flying in Canada and the USA.
He lived in the United States until 1993, when
he returned permanently to the Czech Republic.
He died on May 6, 2006 at the age of 95. František
Peřina flew the Spitfire Mk.Vb AD572 shown here
regularly from February to June 1942 and shot
down one Fw 190 on June 6, 1942.
KITS 10/2024
INFO Eduard50
October 2024