Franti%C5%A1ek Fajtl

Lieutenant General Frantiek Fajtl was a Czech fighter pilot of World War II. He was a British Royal Air Force squadron and wing commander and led a group of Czechoslovak fighter pilots who formed an air regiment under Soviet Air Force command, supporting the Slovak National Uprising in 1944. He was dismissed from the Czechoslovakian Air Force and was held in prison for 1,5 year without a trial after the Communists came to power in 1948, and was only fully rehabilitated after the Velvet Revolution in 1989. He wrote many autobiographical books about his wartime experiences, and was an inspiration for the 2001 film Tmavomodr svt .

Frantiek Fajtl was born in Donn in northern Bohemia, which was part of the AustroHungarian Empire until after World War I, when it become Czechoslovakia in 1918, and now is a part of the Czech Republic. In 1933, he attended, and in 1935 graduated from, the Military Academy in Hranice as a Pilot Officer. He became Lieutenant Pilot in the Czechoslovakian Air Force in 1935, flying observation biplanes, mostly Aero A.100 and Aero A.101 with No. 63 Squadron in the 2nd Air Regiment Edvard Bene, based at Olomouc and Perov in Moravia.

Source: Wikipedia