Page 40 - Demo

40%u20188th August 1940, arrived in England: this is the only%u2026country that really wants to fight. Cannot compare with what has happened in France. The RAF is the best air force ever organised.%u201922 Pilot Officer Stanislav Fejfar, another young Czech, agreed, confiding to his diary: %u2018We arrive at RAF Station Cosford%u2026the buildings%u2026, plus the general organisation, are perfect and obviously the British are business8minded. This most certainly could not be mistaken for France.%u201923 He added: %u2018I just want to sit in the cockpit of a British fighter as soon as this can possibly be arranged.%u201924 Fejfar%u2019s last comment typifies the frustration so many of the Central Europeans felt at being, as they saw it, sidelined into attending language classes and studying King%u2019s Regulations when they were ready and more than willing to fight. However, the RAF insisted, quite reasonably, that before being permitted to fly in combat they must first be able to understand orders and communicate intelligibly. Fortunately, the Slav pilots managed to absorb enough English to cope and, notwithstanding Dowding%u2019s reservations, numbers of them were posted to RAF squadrons. They were warmly received by their new British and Commonwealth colleagues and Pilot Officer Ludwik Martel, a Pole who served with 54 and 603 Squadrons, spoke for many when he said: Seen here wearing the ribbons of the DSO and DFC awarded when he was leading the Czech Wing in 1944, Tom5s Vybiral began his RAF career as a pilot officer with No 312 (Czech) Sqn during the Battle of Britain. (RAF Museum)