* 21.09.1912, Těšetice.
† 05.11.1940, Thames Estuary, UK.
Early Days:
František Jan Hradil was born on 21 September 1912 in Těšetice, in the Olomouc district. At that time this area of Central Europe was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire and became Czechoslovakia in October 1918. He completed his education to 7th grade and on 1 October 1936 he began his compulsory military service. He was selected for pilot training and entered the Military Aviation Academy at Prostějov. He completed his training on 28 August 1937 and served, at the rank of poručík [Pilot Officer] in the Czechoslovak Air Force as a fighter pilot.
During this period he had also joined the Hanácký Aeroklub Olomouc, from where 29 of his fellow pilots would also reach England to join the RAF during WW2; only 10 of them would survive the war.
German Occupation:
The Germans went into Czechoslovakia on 15 March 1939. Under pressure, Emil Hácha, the Czechoslovak President, had acceded to their demands. In the early hours of 15 March, he had ordered all Czechoslovak military units to stand down, remain in their barracks and not resist the occupation. By dawn that day, the Germans began their occupation of Czechoslovakia. Germanisation of Bohemia and Moravia began immediately; they were now the Reich Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (Protektorat Böhmen und Mähren), while Slovakia, in return for their allegiance to Nazi Germany, had become the ‘puppet’ independent state of Slovakia.
By this date, František had achieved 160 flying hours. Upon occupation, the Czechoslovak Air Force was disbanded by the Germans and all personnel dismissed. But just four days later, on 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], whichworked in co-operation with Svaz Letců, the Airman Association of the Czechoslovak Republic. One of their objectives was to assist as many airmen and soldiers as possible to get to neighbouring Poland where they could be formed into military units to fight for the liberation of their homeland. 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.
František was one of the many Czechoslovak airmen and soldiers who regarded the German occupation as appalling and saw it was their duty to go to Poland from where they could fight to achieve the liberation of Czechoslovakia.
Polish Disappointment:
With the help of those two organisations, František covertly escaped over the border to Poland, arriving on 12 July. He then travelled to Krakow and reported for military duty at the Czechoslovak Consulate there. However, here he was informed that the formation of Czechoslovak military units in Poland were just rumours because the Polish authorities would not allow Czechoslovak military units on its territory for fear of provoking Nazi Germany.
IInstead, he learnt that the Czechoslovak Consul had, via his counterpart in Paris, negotiated with the French Government that the escaped Czechoslovak military would be permitted to travel to France. But there was a condition: as French Law did not permit foreign military personnel on its territory during peacetime, the Czechoslovaks would be required to enlist in the French Foreign Legion for a period of five years – but with the assurance that in the event of war being declared, they would be released from the legion and transferred into French military units. The alternative was that they would be sent back to Czechoslovakia, now a German Protectorate, where execution or deportation to a concentration camp would be the most likely outcome.
František, like most of the Czechoslovak escapees, decided that the best choice was to go to France. Initially he was transferred to Bronowice Małe, a derelict former Polish Army barracks from the Austro-Hungarian era, on the outskirts of Krakow which was then being utilised as a temporary transit camp for the escaped Czechoslovak military prior to their transfer to France. He arrived there on 25 July 1939, the 1173rd Czechoslovak escapee to have reached there. The barracks, which were in poor condition, were already well inhabited by Czechoslovak escapees whilst arrangements were made for their transportation, by sea, to France.
To France:
After a short stay at Bronowice Małe, he was one of the 547 Czechoslovak escapees who went by train to Gdynia where they boarded the MS Chrobry, a Polish trans- Atlantic passenger ship owned by the Gdynia-America Shipping Lines Ltd for their routes between Poland and South America. This was its maiden voyage to South America and it would stop in at Bolougne, France, so that the Czechoslovak escapees could disembark there. The MS Chrobry arrived at Bolougne on the night of 31 July/1 August.
French Foreign Legion:
Early the following morning, František and his fellow escapees disembarked onto French soil. After some food they boarded a train for the 13-hour journey to Paris. They arrived there at 17:30 and were taken by coach to the Foreign Legion’s recruitment centre 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.
L’Armée d’Air:
Fortunately for František and his colleagues, before they could be transferred to Siddi-bel-Ables, war was declared on 3 September 1939. This resulted in them being released from their Legion service and transferred to the l’Armée de l’Air’s BA 117 recruitment centre at Base Aerienne de Dugny, Paris. They were then transferred to l’Armée de l’Air’s Base Aérienne de St Cyr, at Versailles, about 20 km west of Paris. Amongst his colleagues here were Emil Fechtner, Vaclav Bergman, Emil Foit, František Burda, Vilém Göth, Vladimír Zaoral and Karel Vykoukal, all of whom were destined to become Battle of Britain pilots in England with František.
On 9 October, at the rank of Sergent, František was transferred to Centre d’Instruction de Chasse at Chartres, the l’Armée de l’Air training airbase, about 50 miles South-West of Paris, for retraining on French equipment, firstly on the Potez XXV and Morane-Saulnier MS.230 elementary trainers and then the Morane-Saulnier MS-406c fighter aircraft.
He had only completed 17 hours of retraining there when the Germans invaded France on 10 May, 1940. The lightning speed and ferocity of their Blitzkrieg attack caused the l’Armée de l’Air to rapidly retreat Westwards. This resulted in František being transferred to Cazaux, near Bordeaux, on the French Atlantic coast, on 23 May 1940, but the French capitulated before he could join an operational unit.
With the imminent capitulation of France, the Czechoslovak airmen were released from l’Armée de l’Air service and those at Cazaux were instructed to get to Bordeaux about 70 km away where they could be evacuated by ship to England, from where they could continue the fight against Germany.
Operation Aerial:
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, František and the other Czechoslovak airmen were released from their l’Armée de l’Air service and 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, František reached Bordeaux. There the Czechoslovak airmen, under the command of Staff Capitan Josef Schejbal, as well as Poles and other nationalities, boarded the ship ‘Karanan’, a small 395 tonne Dutch cargo ship, for the voyage to Britain. They departedon the 19 June, sailing down the Gironde estuary to reach the Atlantic and to England.
The route took them far out into the Atlantic, to avoid U-Boats and Luftwaffe attacks, before changing course East to Falmouth in England.. They arrived on 21 June, the day before France capitulated.
RAF:
After arriving at Falmouth, the Czechoslovak escapees were initially transferred to RAF Innsworth, Gloucestershire, for security vetting and medical checks. Once that was completed, their next move was to the Czechoslovak resettlement camp at Cholmondeley Park, near Chester. Here, as he was a pilot, František was required to swear his oath of allegiance to King George VI and was accepted into the RAF VR, at the rank of Pilot Officer, and transferred to the Czechoslovak Depot at RAF Cosford.
Battle of Britain:
František was posted on 12 July to the newly formed 310 (Czechoslovak) Sqn, becoming one of its founding members. The squadron was based at Duxford squadron and was equipped with Hawker Hurricane Mk I fighter aircraft and was part of 12 Group of RAF Fighter Command. With 310 Sqn he re-trained on Hurricanes and on 21 August 1940 made his first operational sortie in the Battle of Britain, flying Hurricane I P3889. On 27 August, along with fellow 310 Sqn Czechoslovak pilots P/O František Doležal, Sgt František Marek and Sgt Stanislav Plzák, he was loaned to 19 Sqn who were stationed at nearby Fowlmere. The squadron was equipped with Spitfires and commanded by Sqn Ldr Brian Lane, DFC. There it was noted that the ‘Czechs are very keen and eager to have a crack’.
19 Squadron:
On 27 August, along with fellow 310 Sqn Czechoslovak pilot’s P/O František Doležal, Sgt František Marek and Sgt Stanislav Plzák he was loaned to 19 Sqn who were stationed at nearby Fowlmere. The squadron was equipped with Spitfires and commanded by Sqn Ldr Brian Lane, DFC. There it was noted that the ‘Czechs are very keen and eager to have a crack’.
With 19 Sqn they had to re-train for Spitfires. Doležal and Plzák were assigned to ‘A’ Flight whilst Marek and Hradil to ‘B’ Flight. Marek and Hradil made their first operational flight with 19 Sqn on 14 September. Unfortunately, it was to have a tragic outcome: at around 15:50, whilst flying at 24,000 feet over the London area when Marek called up Hradil over the radio – the only other pilot in that section whose Spitfire was equipped with a VHF (Very High Frequency) radio set – and said that he had no oxygen. Shortly after, Marek’s Spitfire, R6625, was seen to dive down and he was killed when it crashed near near Horndon-on-the-Hill, Orset, Essex. It is believed that the cause of the crash was thought to be because Marek lost consciousness due to loss of oxygen.
During the Battle of Britain period – 12 July to 31 October 1940 – František made 26 operational flights totalling 24.75 flying hours. These had consisted mainly of Big Wing patrols – the Hurricanes of 242, 302 (Polish) and 310 (Czechoslovak) and the Spitfires of 19 and 611 squadrons–covering the South-East of England. Only on one of those patrols were Luftwaffe aircraft sighted and engaged.
On that occasion, the 27 September, the Wing consisting of 3 Hurricane and 2 Spitfire Squadrons took off from Duxford and Fowlmere at 16:20 with orders to patrol Hornchurch at 20,000 ft. As there was a layer of cloud at that altitude, they started their patrol above the cloud; it was rearranged that the two Spitfire squadrons should remain above the Hurricanes and attack escort fighters. At around 17:25, no enemy aircraft were encountered but AA fire was seen bursting through the clouds. The Hurricanes, followed by ‘A’ and ‘B’ flights of 19 Sqn, went below cloud where an enemy formation of 20 Ju88s, Heinkel IIIs, a few Me110 and Me 109s were sighted South of the Thames Estuary at 15,000 feet. 611 Sqn remained on patrol above the cloud level.
That day František was flying as Red 4 in Spitfire X4267, and achieved combat success when he damaged a Me109e over Sandwich, Kent, having fired 2323 rounds at it. His own aircraft was undamaged and he landed back at Fowlmere. It was a successful engagement for 19 Sqn achieving a tally of 3 Ju88s, 1 Me 110, 2 He IIIs destroyed, 1 He III shared destroyed and I Me109 damaged with no losses to themselves.
Last Flight:
On 5 November, ten Spitfires from 19 Squadron took off at 15:40 for their second Duxford Wing patrol of that day over the Kent and Sussex area. František was flying P7545. At 16:15, they were flying at 26,500 feet over the Thames Estuary when ‘B’ Flight of 19 Sqn sighted a number of Me 109s from I/JG26 about 2,000 feet above them. ‘B’ Flight engaged them and in the ensuing combat, his Spitfire was shot down in flames by Hptm Rolf Pingel Gruppenkommandeur of I/JG26 shortly before 17:00. The Spitfire crashed into the Thames Estuary about 500 mtrs off the pier at Southend on Sea. On 7 November his body was washed ashore. There were no wounds on his body but his hands, face and neck were burnt and it is most likely that he died because he was unable to escape from his blazing aircraft.
P/O František Hradil was buried, with full military honours at grave 12160, Plot R at the military section of Sutton Road cemetery, Southend on Sea, Essex. He was 28 years old.
František’s elder brother Karel escaped to England and joined the RAF in December 1944. In reprisal to František’s escape to Poland in 1939, the Germans interned his relatives in Svatobořice interment camp, in Czechoslovakia, during WW2.
Medals:
1939 – 45 Star with Battle of Britain clasp
Válečný kříž 1939
Remembered:
Czech Republic:
Olomouc:
Prague 1 – St Vitus Cathedral:
He is remembered in the Remembrance book at St Vitus Cathedral, Hradčany, Prague.
Prague 1 – Klárov :
In November 2017, his name, along with the names of 2533 other Czechoslovak men and women who had served in the RAF during WW2, was unveiled at the Winged Lion Monument at Klárov, Prague.
Prague 3 – The Army Museum :
He is remembered on the Memorial Plaque at the Military History Institute, at Žižkov Prague.
Prague 3 – Vinohrady :
He is remembered on the family tomb at Olšany Cemetery, Prague.
Prague 6 – Dejvice :
He is named on the Memorial for the fallen Czechoslovak airmen of 1939-1945, at Dejvice, Prague 6.
Prostějov:
He is commemorated on a memorial plaque for the fallen at the school at náměstí Edmunda Husserla, Prostějov.
Great Britain:
Capel-le-Ferne:
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:
František 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.
Duxford:
He is commemorated on a memorial plaque by a tree planted near hangar 4 at Duxford to commemorate the Czechoslovak airmen who were killed in 1940/41 while stationed at the airfield.
Hawkinge:
He is remembered on a information panel at the Kent Battle of Britain Museum, Hawkinge, Kent.
London – Battle of Britain Memorial:
He is also commemorated on the London Battle of Britain Memorial:
London – St Clement Danes:
František Hradil is remembered in the Remembrance book at St Clements Danes Church, London.
London – West Hampstead:
He is remembered on the Memorial Plaque at the Bohemia House, he former Czechoslovak National House, at West Hampstead, London.
Article last updated: 31.10.2025.
Hello – do you have any information of a relative of mine who escaped Czechoslovakia and joined the RAF – his name was Oldrich Alois Filip? Thank you – P J Walker.
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