Jan Svoboda

“When the Germans were retreating we did an air raid over the Netherlands. We were bombarding all that moved. We were a squadron there, that is four aircraft. The first one was the commander, it was Vindyš, the second one was a beginner, it was his first raid. We told him: 'When we come down, don't follow him down, follow him sideways.' The third one was a seasoned pilot and I was number four. We were flying and I spotted a boat full of Germans on the Channel. So I reported them and then they told us: 'Get rid of spare tanks.' It was a ninety-gallon tank, it was under him. We got rid of them then, we switched to the main tank and they went down. And they did exactly what I had told them not to do. And the third seasoned pilot closely followed the second one. They say: 'They aim at the first one and shoot the second one down.' I said to myself it was no place for me. So I flew around. The flack was awful, the sky was completely dark. We didn't know, there was a hidden German airport, those were particularly protected. So I went aside then. In order to shoot as much as possible I turned out the gas. All those spring guns, cannons, machine guns... the recoil was so strong that I twitched the plane. I flew only 90 mph. I said to myself: 'You fool, what are you doing?' So I opened it and they were shooting in front of me then. I crossed the rudders and the plane directed somewhere else. It was rising up aside and I got out of it this way. Both the second and the third aircraft were shot down because they made a mistake. But they didn't get killed, they returned after the war. It was one of my experiences.”

How did you feel during those dangerous flights, was there any time to be frightened?) “No, it's impossible. You must not think about it because if you would, you would go mad.”

“My name is Jan Svoboda. I was born on March 19, 1918. (And where did you work during WWII?) I was in 310 Squadron in England. I did operation flights, I took part in 120 air raids and a number of operation hours – about 150. I haven't got my notebook on me therefore I can't verify that. It is just an estimate.”

(What did you think of the happenings in Czechoslovakia after 1948 and how about the fact that many of your co-belligerents were imprisoned without a reason?) “It was a shame. I was terribly sorry that my own nation could do something like that. And in the end it all... all is better that ends well. And this ended well.”