Hawker Typhoon Mk.IB, JP613, S/Ldr J. Maňák, 198th Squadron, RAF Manston, UK, August 1943
Comments
David HBeautiful build , made even more interesting with the back story..much to the shame on us Brits that refused settlement and sent the many brave pilots back to certain persecution.
Daniel KřivánekTo Villiers de Vos - thank you 🙂
To Jakub FIala - díky. Asi ho vezmu na klubovku 😄
Album info
Jiří Maňák was only the second Czechoslovak after František Fajtl (he commanded the 122nd Squadron from 27 April 1942 to 5 May 1942) to be appointed commander of a British squadron. In his case it was the 198th Squadron, which he took command of on 1 May 1943, After less than four months in this capacity, on 28 August 1943, during a combat flight over enemy territory near Knokke, Belgium, his machine was hit by flak and S/Ldr Maňák was forced to make an emergency landing into the waves of rough seas. The following morning he was captured by a German patrol on Walcheren Island and sent via the Dulag Luft (Durchgangslager der Luftwaffe - passage camp) at Oberursel, where he was interrogated, to Stalag Luft III (Stammlager der Luftwaffe - tribal camp) at Sagan (now Żagań in Poland), where he was actively involved in the preparations for the great escape in March 1944. After the liberation he returned to his homeland, where he was persecuted by the communist regime from 1948 onwards, like the vast majority of Czechoslovak RAF pilots.
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