Tribute to Czechoslovak air crew buried in Peterborough 80 years after their death

The four men were part of the 311 Czechoslovak Squadron. One of four squadrons that served as part of the British RAF during the Second World War.

Retired RAF Group Captainn Judith Good OBE told the Peterborough Telegraph: “Today I visited the Commonwealth War Graves of four young men - Sergeant Frantisek Koukol, Pilot Officer Josef Slovak, Pilot Officer Jaroslav Skutil and Sergeant Oskar Valosek in Eastfield Cemetery. It is 80 years to the day (1st October 1940) that they were killed in an aircraft crash whilst serving with 311 (Czechoslovak) Sqn RAF - they had all escaped from the Nazis in (the then) Czechoslovakia and chose to continue to serve with the free Czech air force as part of our Royal Air Force.

“I feel it is so important to remember the sacrifice of those who gave their lives to help win the war - not only on Remembrance Sunday - they came so far from home, fought so bravely and rest together as a crew in a corner of Peterborough - how grateful we should be.”

The Czechoslovak squadrons were made up mostly of pilots that had escaped the Nazi occupation of their homeland.

The Eastern European country, that contained within it parts of modern day Czech Republic, Slovakia and Ukraine, spent much of the war under Nazi occupation after the Allied forces’ failed attempt to appease German Fuhrer Adolf Hitler.
One of the main supporters of the policy of appeasement was British Prime Minister Nevillle Chamberlain.

Appeasement saw Hitler given control of the Sudetenland in 1938 in the hope that this would curb his expansionist ambitions.

The Sudetenland was an area of land that belonged to Czechoslovakia but was inhabited by many German speakers.

The policy failed though and by the end of 1944, Europe was five years into a war with Axis forces and Czechoslovakia had fallen completely under Hitler’s control. 
Many Czechoslovak escapees, who had no army of their own to join, joined up with the British.

Between 1940-41, four squadrons were established within the RAF (310, 311, 312, 313 squadrons).

They served until the end of the war in 1945, racking up over 65,000 operational hours. This included both transporting supplies as well as bombing raids.

The Czechoslovak squadrons were present at both the Battle of Britain (1940) and Operation Overlord (1944), the codename for the battle of Normandy, which successfully helped to reclaim Western Europe from Nazi control.

The 311 Squadron website states: “On the afternoon of October the 1st 1940 the unit suffered its first casualties as a result of a non-operational accident.

“An Anson (R9649) trainer aircraft of the squadron crashed at Elton near Peterborough following an on-board fire, caused by the negligent discharge of a Verey-Light Pistol, which some sources state was the fault of the wireless instructor, RAF Sgt George Powis.

“He did not survive and three of the squadron trainees, Sgt František Koukol, P/O Jaroslav Skutil, P/O Josef Slovák and the second pilot, Sgt Oskar Valošek, also died in the subsequent crash. P/O Ludvik Němec, the pilot and P/O Jaroslav Kula managed to parachute to safety.”