Abstract
At a first sight it might hence seem that it is impossible to make any new discovery at least when it comes to the losses suffered by British RAF during the Battle of Britain (BoB) nonetheless, it is impossible to rely solely on the already published reference works sine these are based primarily on archive research. After all, the standard contemporaneous records (ORB), which are the most frequently used source of historiographical research, are not free of mistakes, typing errors, some times they have not been recorded diligently, some of their parts are no longer legible or altogether absent.
This happens to be the case of an episode of the BoB which lead to the loss of an airplane and pilot’s injury, whereas the relevant squadron ORB does not include any record of such event. From our perspective it is notable that the principle actor of the event happened to be a Czechoslovak aviator, Sgt Václav Cukr (1913–1989) of No 253 Fighter Squadron, a highly experienced fighter who had become a fighter ace already during the previous French campaign.
Nonetheless, as a consequence of the above described episode he had to leave the active combat service. Despite the fact that the event is not mentioned in the Squadron’s ORB, it was possible to reconstruct it based on the combination of contemporaneous personal correspondence between other pilots, the Aircraft Movement Card, the Flying Accident Card, as well as V.
Cukr’s personal letter written shortly before his death. The event is moreover documented by a hitherto unpublished photograph of the crashed aircraft.
The study is supplemented by an updated chart of material and personnel losses suffered by Czechoslovak fighter pilots and British members of Czechoslovak Fighter Squadrons during the BoB both in operational duty and in training. Photographs of all Czechoslovak fighter pilots who fell during their service with operational squadrons in the Battle of Britain as well as photographs of their graves are also included