* 27.11.1916, Machov.
† 21.12.1948, Athens, Greece.
Pre WW2:
Václav Foglar was born on 27 November 2016 at Machov, near Náchod, a small town near the Polish border about 140 km East of Prague. He was the son of Antonín Foglar, a blacksmith in the town. For his education, Václav attended three years of the town school in Machov and then went for two years at Police nad Metují. He then trained as a locksmith at the Bohuslav Cvrček company, a business in Police nad Metují. In 1934, on reaching the age of 18, he volunteered to join the Czechoslovak Air Force, but was rejected. Undeterred, he applied for employment at the Avia aircraft factory in the Čakovice district of Prague and was accepted. In 1935 he re-applied to join the Czechoslovak Air Force and was then successful.
Military Service:
In 1935 he enrolled at the Military Aviation Academy at Prostějov and was selected for pilot training, from where he graduated in 1937 with the rank of desátnik (Cpl.) He was posted to the 15 Observation squadron of the 3rd Air Regiment ‘General M.R. Štefánik‘ deployed at Piešťany, Slovakia, and who were equipped with Letov Š-328 observation biplanes.
Munich Agreement – 30.09.1938:
In September 1938, the Munich agreement was signed by Hitler, Mussolini, Chamberlain and Daladier wherein the Sudeten region of Czechoslovakia was ceded to Nazi Germany. Dr Eduard Benes, President of Czechoslovakia, was not invited to attend that meeting that carved up his country. Poland in turn occupied the Český Těšín region of Czechoslovakia on 10 October 1939.
German Occupation:
With the German occupation of Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939, Slovakia became ‘independent’ from Czechoslovakia, but was, in reality, just a puppet State for Nazi Germany. Václav and other Czech airmen serving in the Czechoslovak Air Force in Slovakia were returned to the German Protectorate. By this time, Václav was already an experienced flyer and had achieved 357 flying hours to his credit. The Czechoslovak Air Force was quickly disbanded by the Germans and all personnel dismissed; the same fate befell most of those serving in the Czechoslovak Army.
Germanisation of Bohemia and Moravia began immediately. For the military personnel and many patriotic Czech citizens, this was a degrading period. Many sought to redress this shame and humiliation and wanted to fight for the liberation of their homeland. By 19 March 1939, former senior officers of the now-disbanded Czechoslovak military had started to form an underground army, known as Obrana Národa [Defense of the Nation]. One of their objectives was to assist as many airmen and soldiers as possible to get to neighbouring Poland where Ludvík Svoboda, a former distinguished Czechoslovak Legionnaire from WW1, was planning the formation of Czechoslovak military units to fight for the liberation of their homeland. Within Czechoslovakia, former military personnel and civilian patriots covertly started to arrange for former Air Force and Army personnel to be smuggled over the border into Poland to join these newly formed Czechoslovak units. On returning to civilian life, Václav returned to his former employer at Avia, having achieved 357 flying hours whilst serving in the Czechoslovak Air Force.
To Poland:
Obrana Národa also worked in co-operation with Svaz Letců, the Airman Association of the Czechoslovak Republic. These two organisations provided money, courier and other assistance to enable airmen to escape to Poland. Usually, this was by crossing the border from the Ostrava region into neighbouring Poland. News soon began to be secretly spread amongst the former Czechoslovak airmen and soldiers and many voluntarily made their personal decision to go to Poland. Václav was one of those who decided to escape and enlist in one of those units.
Václav and some others from the Avia factory planned to covertly escape to Poland; the management at the factory were aware of this intention and gave it their support. On 16 June 1939, Václav travelled with others to Ostrava, where they had been instructed to report to a railway employee there. The man had a railway carriage already prepared, which contained empty packing cases from aircraft engines. The escapees boarded the carriage and hid themselves amongst the cases. Shortly after the train departed and travelled the short distance over the border to Poland to the station at Šumburk. On 19 June they reported for duty at the Czechoslovak Consulate at Kraków.
Polish Disappointment:
There they were to learn that Poland was not permitting the formation of foreign military units on its territory. However, the Czechoslovak Consulate in Kraków had been in negotiations with their counterpart in Paris, France, a country with which Czechoslovakia had an Alliance Treaty. Under French law, foreign military units could not be formed on its soil during peacetime. The Czechoslovak escapees, however, could be accepted into the French Foreign Legion with the agreement that should war be declared they would be transferred to French military units. The Czechoslovaks would, however, have to enlist with the French Foreign Legion for a five-year term. The alternative was to be returned to occupied Czechoslovakia and face German retribution for escaping – usually imprisonment or execution with further retribution to their families.
To France:
The escapees were initially billeted at Bronowice Małe, a former Polish army camp outside Krakow, arriving their on 28 June, whilst arrangements were made for them to travel to France. After a short stay in Poland, Václav, along with 189 other escapees, mainly Czechoslovak airmen, travelled by train to the Polish Baltic port of Gdynia, where on 26 July they boarded the SS ‘Kastelholm’, a Swedish coastal steamer, and set off for France. Part of the voyage down the Baltic Sea was very rough, even to airmen who were used to flying in turbulent conditions, and so the SS ‘Kastelholm’ stop at the Danish port of Frederikshaven to re-supply was a welcome relief for the Czechoslovaks onboard. After a five-day voyage, they arrived in Calais on 31 July.
French Foreign Legion:
On arrival at Calais, Václav and his fellow escapees were taken by train to the Foreign Legion’s recruitment depot at Place Balard in Paris to undergo medical checks, whilst the necessary documentation was prepared for their enlistment into the Legion pending their transfer to the Legion’s training base at Sidi Bel Abbès, Algeria. During this period, they attended French classes and any free time was usually spent in Paris exploring the sights and practising their newly learnt French with the girls they met. Václav was accepted into the French Foreign Legion, at the rank of soldat, on 2 September. But war was declared the following day before he could be taken to the Legion’s training camp at Sidi-bel-Abbles, in Algeria.
l’Armée de l’Air:
Instead Václav and other Czechoslovak aormen was transferred to the l’Armée de l’Air. On 24 September he was posted to École de Pilotage (pilot’s school) at Avord airbase for re-training on French aircraft. On 15 January 1940, now at the rank of caporal-chef, he was assigned to Centre d’Instruction de Chasse at Chartres for training on French fighter aircraft.
By the time of the German invasion of France on 10 May 1940, Václav was still undergoing his training at Chartres. On 23 May, having completed 18 hours of flying at Chartres, he was transferred with 11 other Czechoslovak pilots to Cazaux airbase, near Bordeaux, about 800 km away in south-west France but he was not posted to an operational unit. France capitulated before he could join an operational unit and participate in the Battle of France.
Evacuation to England:
Since 15 June, Operation Aerial, the evacuation of Allied military forces and civilians from ports in Western France had been in operation and with the French capitulation imminent, on 18 June 1940, Václav and the other Czechoslovak airmen were released from their l’Armée de l’Air service. They were instructed to get to the port at Bordeaux, before the Germans reached there, so that they could be evacuated to England from where they could carry on the fight against Nazi Germany. With other Czechoslovak airmen, he reached Bordeaux, where they boarded the SS ‘Kmicic’ formerly the SS ‘Robur III’, a Polish cargo ship, and sailed on 19 June down the Gironde estuary. The route took them far out into the Atlantic, to avoid U-Boats and Luftwaffe attacks, before changing course East to Falmouth, Great Britain. They arrived on 23 June, the day before France capitulated.
RAF:
After their arrival, the Czechoslovak airmen were transferred to RAF Innsworth, Gloucestershire, for security vetting. On 2 August, Václav was accepted into the RAF Volunteer Reserve, at its lowest rank of AC2 and posted to the Czechoslovak airmen’s depot at Cosford, near Wolverhampton, for basic training and English lessons.
On 21 September, with the rank of Sgt, Václav and nineteen other Czechoslovak pilots were posted to 6 OTU at Sutton Bridge for re-training on Hawker Hurricane fighter aircraft.
Battle of Britain:
On 9 October, along with fellow Czechoslovak Sgt Jiří Kučera, Václav was posted to No 245 (Northern Rhodesian) Sqn who were deployed at Aldergrove, Northern Ireland, for advanced training and where he participated in the final days of the Battle of Britain. The squadron was equipped with Hurricane fighter aircraft and had a defensive role to protect allied shipping in the Northern Irish Sea and in protecting Belfast from Luftwaffe air attacks.
Václav’s first operational flight in the Battle was on 22 October for an interception scramble, taking off in Hurricane P3099 at 14:20 returning at 15:00 with no Luftwaffe aircraft encountered. Later that day, again flying Hurricane P3099, another scramble interception from 16:15 to 16:45 was flown, again with no Luftwaffe aircraft found.
The following day, he made three operational flights; a dawn patrol in Hurricane N2486 from 07:20 to 07:50, a scramble interception in P3099 from 12:05 to 12:30 and finally a patrol in N2558 from 14:50 to 16:10.
His final flights during the Battle were on 28 October with a dawn patrol from 07:40 to 08:50 and then a dusk patrol from 18:00 to 18:35, both flown in Hurricane N2558.
After the Battle:
On 18 November he was posted to 17 Sqn at Martlesham Heath, where he remained until 27 May 1941 and was promoted in March 1941 to the rank of F/Sgt. The squadron was equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk1s Their role was the aerial defence of South East England and protection of Allied shipping approaching the Thames Estuary.
To 313 Sqn:
His next posting was on 27 May 1941 to the newly formed 313 (Czechoslovak) Sqn at Catterick, Yorkshire, which was equipped with Spitfire Mk Ias, and assigned to its B flight. On 1 July, 313 Sqn redeployed to Leconfield, Yorkshire, and then, on 26 August, were redeployed South to Portreath, Cornwall. Their squadron’s role was to provide operational patrols to protect Allied shipping at the Western end of the English Channel, offensive Rhubarb which were air sweeps to engage Luftwaffe fighters, or provide escort to Allied bombers on raids over Northern France. In September Václav was promoted to W/O and he was commissioned, at the rank of P/O, on 26 May 1942.
On 10 April 1942 he achieved combat success. 313 Sqn was now deployed at Hornchurch, Essex. That day 12 Spitfires from 313 Sqn took off at 16:50 with the Hornchurch Wing and made rendezvous over West Malling, Kent, with the Biggin Hill and Kenley Wings for a Rodeo – offensive fighter sweeps over Northern France to tempt Luftwaffe fighters to engage with them so that they could be destroyed in aerial combat. Václav was flying Spitfire Vb P8571 as No 3 in Blue Section, Blue 1 was F/Lt Karel Vykoukal and Blue 2, Sgt Jaroslav Hloužek. The three Wings flew west of Dungeness at a height of 14,000 feet as they crossed the English Channel and then climbing to 20,000 feet as they crossed the French coast at Gravelines, and then to 22,000 feet as they headed towards St Omer. They were about 15 miles South of Gravelines, when 313 Sqn were attacked by approximately 20 Luftwaffe Me 109e and Fw190 fighter aircraft which dived out of the sun. The whole squadron turned to attack and six pilots fired. In that combat Václav achieved a Me 109e destroyed. His combat report reads:
I was Blue 3, flying port of my Section Leader. When at 19,000 feet about 15 miles south of Gravelines, I saw 6 or 7 e/a diving down on us out of the sun from astern. My squadron broke formation and three aircraft from my section turned about to meet the e/a, which however, themselves broke up, 3 of them continuing their dive. I got in a 2 second burst on one of the latter from ahead, closing to 150 yards range. The e/a first emitted white smoke, and then a few seconds later, black smoke and flames poured out, and the e/a dived vertically, obviously out of control. This is confirmed by F/Lt Vykoukal, Blue 1, and is claimed as destroyed.
I could not follow the e/a down as I had to go to the assistance of Blue 2, who was being attacked by another Me 109e. Blue 2 broke away and I gave the e/a a short burst from about 300 yards, without observing results. I then re-joined my section and returned to base.
Václav landed safely back at base at 18:10.
RAF Transport Command:
On 11 April 1944 he was posted to 105 OTU for training on No 12 Course at RAF Bramcote for Transport Command training on multi-engined aircraft. Then on 2 May to No 3 (P) AFU for Advanced Flying Training at RAF South Cerney, near Cirencester, returning to 105 OTU on 13 June for operational training. On 2 October 1944 he was posted to 147 Sqn who were deployed at Croydon. There he was flying twin-engined Anson and DC3 aircraft taking VIPs to Europe and also to Burma and Ceylon in the Far East. On 28 October 1944, Václav was promoted to the rank of F/Lt, his final RAF rank.
During his RAF service he had flown 1843 hours on single-engine aircraft and 485 hours on twin-engined aircraft; a total of 2328 hours.
On 17 May 1945, a 147 Sqn DCs, KG780, took off from RAF Croydon at 08:45 en-route for Prague Refuelling stops were made at Brussels, Evere and Plzeň airfields before landing at Prague’s Ruzyně airport at 4 pm. It was crewed by F/Lt Václav Foglar, W/Cdr Vladimír Nedvěd, navigator F/Lt Jaromír Grygar and F/O Ludvík Král. This was the first aircraft to arrive at Prague from England following the end of the war in Europe, thus making them the first Czechoslovak RAF airmen from England to land in newly liberated Czechoslovakia. On board was a delegation from the Czechoslovak Government in Exile in London, headed by Minister Dr. Hubert Ripka, and also a six-man military delegation, headed by Gen Bruno Sklenovský, head of the Military Mission in the UK.
Post WW2:
Václav was demobbed from the RAF and returned to Czechoslovakia on 17 August 1945. He remained in the Czechoslovak Air Force, at the rank of poručík [P/O], and transferred to the Air Transport Group Letecké dopravní skupiny [LDS] which provided domestic and international air transport to military and civilian passengers.
Václav was demobilised from the Czechoslovak Air Force on 1 February 1946 and he joined České aerolinie, [ČSA] the Czechoslovak National airline, as a Captain flying DC3s transport aircraft.
With ČSA:
In the immediate post-WW2 period, ČSA, was entirely dependent upon former Czechoslovak RAF airmen for aircrew and groundcrew to be able to operate, until new personnel were being recruited and trained for those roles.
During this period ČSA was also re-establishing its pre-WW2 international and domestic passenger routes and Václav was making many international flights.
Fatefull Flight:
Václav was killed in a flying accident on 21 December 1948 whilst captain of a scheduled CSA flight from Prague- via Rome andAthens to Lydda (Israel). Piloted by him Dakota OK-WDN took-off from Rome at 12:48 and was due to land at Athens at 16:40. En-route they ran into a storm in the Peloponnese which they tried to fly around but in vain. The situation was further complicated by the fact that the aircraft had been delayed on take-off from Prague due to lengthy Customs clearance, so it was now flying in the dark which was not planned. During the flight, the crew were in radio contact with Rome, Prague and Athens airports. Prague airport received the last radio message at 15:46 and according to it the plane was located near the island of Kefallonia, off the west coast of Greece. At 17:33, Athens intercepted a message indicating the crew’s position on the south-eastern tip of the Peloponnese. A few minutes later, at 17:41, the crew’s last message was picked up by a British radio station at Lossiemouth – by then the aircraft was already sending out an SOS distress signal. As it turned out later, shortly after 18:35, the Dakota hit the wooded slope of the Taygethos foothills near the town of Kalamaki on the southern coast of the Peloponnese. Upon impact, it shattered and ignited. All 19 passengers, mostly Israeli nationals and the five-member crew of Václav Foglar, pilot; Miroslav Churan, co-pilot; Karel Hudeček, flight engineer; Jaroslav Kuchař, radio operator, and Vlasta Božinová, stewardess were killed.
Czechoslovak representatives from the State Aviation Administration of the Ministry of the Interior, who investigated the cause of the disaster at the scene, commented that the disaster could have been prevented if the Greek station at Hassani airport had sent a more reliable meteorological report to Rome. Strangely, the SOS calls were not heard in Athens, although they were picked up by stations in Malta and even further away. The Greeks apparently did not use even the simplest means of rescue. Three burning tanks of fuel on the Kalamaki plain to dissipate the low cloud would have allowed the DC3 to make an emergency landing.
Medals Awarded:
1939 – 45 Star with Battle of Britain clasp
Air Crew Europe Star
Africa Star
Atlantic Star
Defence Medal
War Medal
Válečný kříž 1939 and 3 bars
Za chrabrost and 2 bars
Za zásluhy I.stupně
Pamětní medaile se štítky F–VB
Croix de Guerre
Remembered:
Czech Republic:
Machov :
He is remembered on a memorial plaque at his birth village of Machov, near Náchod.
Praha – Klárov :
In November 2017, his name, along with the names of 2507 other Czechoslovak men and women who had served in the RAF during WW2, was unveiled at the Winged Lion Monument at Klárov, Prague.
Great Britain :
Capel-le-Ferne, Kent:
He is commemorated, along with the other 2940 Battle of Britain aircrew, on the Christopher Foxley-Norris Memorial Wall at the National Battle of Britain Memorial at Capel-le-Ferne, Kent:
Hawkinge:
Václav is remembered on the Czechoslovak Battle of Britain pilots memorial at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum at Hawkinge, Kent. It was unveiled on 28 October 2025, to commemorate the 88 Czechoslovaks who flew in that battle.
London – Battle of Britain Memorial:
He is also commemorated on the London Battle of Britain Memorial:
Article last update: 31.10.2025.
THEIR COURAGE AND SACRICE WILL NEVER BE FOTGOTON.
THEIR COURAGE AND SACRIFICE WILL NEVER BE FORGOTTEN.