Sixty-eight Years Ago The Battle of Britain Was About to Start and Sgt Józef František Was About To Become the RAF's Ace of Aces.

A Pole who had fought with the RAF in WWII gave a radio interview about his war experiences. He relived a dogfight in which he had shot down three German planes. He said "three fokkers appeared out of nowhere, one fokker was at 12 o’clock, one fokker was on my tail, and one fokker was diving on me." The moderator quickly intervened and explained that a Fokker was a type of German aircraft. The pilot said “yes, but these fokkers were in Messerschmidts!"
Some say that the pilot was Sgt Józef Frantisek, a Czech fighting with Poland's Kosciuszko Squadron. However, Sgt Frantisek never got the chance to do any post war interviews. He was was killed in an accident on October 8, 1940. Before he died, he became the "Ace of aces" of all the RAF squadrons. He had "escaped to Poland and fought against Germans in September 1939. Then he went to France together with the Polish pilots and shot 10 Luftwaffe aircraft. After coming to Great Britain he was persuaded to join one of the Czech squadrons to be formed. Yet, he wanted to fly with the Polish 303 squadron. During the Battle of Britain he invented his own method of 'hunting' the enemy aircraft and achieved 17 kills." He said that the only time he was not terrified was when he was flying. Sgt Frantisek, you were a real patriot who would not have joined the Texas Air National Guard even if you'd had the connections. Your war was a war of necessity-not choice. You fought it your self. Thanks for your sacrifice.