Allied Losses and Incidents: All Commands

Allied Air Forces Losses and Incidents Database.

Allied Losses Nordic RAAF Losses RNZAF Losses USAAF Battle of Britain Paradie RCAF Archiwum Polish War Graves Runnymede Kracker Luftwaffe
Check the Databases Menu for the extensive list of our databases which represent decades of original research by our Editors

Search Tips • Researching Your Loved OneContact us via Helpdesk for research on your loved one

Names in Database A -D • Names in Database E - K • Names in Database L - R • Names in Database S -Z
If you are unsure of the spelling of the name you are searching for, you can check all the names in this database

Data derived from many sources. Corrections/Additions welcomed via Helpdesk

NOTE ON DATES: IMPORTANT: For consistency, the Date is given as the date the mission TOOK OFF since the precise time of a loss is not always certain. Take Off date is unambigous and fixed in the official records, but obviously in those cases where the incident occurred before midnight UK time, then the Take Off Date will be the same as the Incident Date. Of course, most Bomber Command missions flew through midnight, therefore a Luftwaffe claim against a plane - or a locally generated crash report - may record the incident as occurring on the day following our Take Off Date. Bear this in mind when cross-referencing to our Luftwaffe Victories by Name/Date Database and other Luftwaffe sources. In some cases other sources may quote the date following our date, using locally generated reports as their source. To add to the potential for confusion, remember to take into account a Luftwaffe recorded date will be in local time, 1 hour ahead of UK time. When we discover a validated Incident Date we change our record if necessary.

(1) Check spelling in 'Names in Database' link
(2) Search 3 characters add x to name eg coex for coe
(3) Check Serial has no spaces eg NB456
(4) Check date format is YYYY-MM-DD include hyphens
(5) Check you have seen all pages, see bottom of table
(6) Single digit squadron uses form '5Sqn' must include 'Sqn'
(7) Read Search Tips: Database section
(8) Scroll to right to see last column
(9) Try using a portion of searchword (Contains option) (10) If no luck, contact us via Helpdesk

Our hosting service imposes a 4-character search minimum for database tables. We have modified our databases to support 3-character name searches.

Add 'x' to 3-character name: e.g. to search for 'coe' put 'coex' in search box, for 'fox' put 'foxx'.

If you need help, EMAIL us with name and database to search and we will perform the search manually for you.
To search on squadron, append 'Sqn'. Examples: '72Sqn' or '416Sqn'

Thanks to Personnel of the Polish Air Force in Great Britain for supplementary data and images (marked with a chequerboard device) related to the Polish Air Force, and many images courtesy of our respected colleagues Wojtek Matusiak and Robert Gretzyngier. Other images from our own archives.
Responding to requests that respects may be paid in this database to a loved one or friend, or someone you want to recognize, an In Memoriam plaque may now be placed next to any entry. See our Donate Page for details. Search for In Memoriam in this database to see examples of plaques which have been placed.

Polish Air Force personnel have a supplementary database containing more information and many more entries. Check the following:
Personel Polskich Sił Powietrznych posiada dodatkową bazę danych zawierającą więcej informacji i wiele innych wpisów. Sprawdź następujące elementy:
Archiwum: PSP 1939 -1947 Database 17,000+ Polish Air Force Entries
ON REQUEST, MORE INFORMATION CAN OFTEN BE RETRIEVED FROM OUR RESEARCH ARCHIVE ON EVERY ENTRY, AND ON NAMES YET TO BE ENTERED.

See a sample search

If you would like our team to research a family member or friend who appears in this database, contact us via the Helpdesk. We will send you instructions.

Enter Your search conditions and click Search This
Searching for a 3-character name requires special treatment

AND(Optional)

Exact Match Contains Word

These are the results of your search:

You searched for: “"czech"”

#	Name*	First Names	Rank	Service No.	Born	Nationality	Role	Awards	Air Force	Command	Unit	DateofIncident *See Note	Aircraft	Type	Serial	Code	Base	Time	Mission	Incident	Fate	Commemorated	Photo (Click to Expand)	Notes	Links/Archive Reports
1	Bryks	Josef	Flight Lieutenant		1916-03-18	Czech	Pilot	MBE Czech War Cross (x3)	RAFVR	Fighter	242Sqn	1941-06-17	Hurricane	II	Z2508				Circus 14	Shot down ?	PoW		Memorial plaque to Josef Bryks at 15 Hanáckého pluku Street in Olomouc	Victim of Communist regime post-war. Born March 18, 1916, Laštany, Olomouc district, Olomouc region. Died August 12, 1957, Rovnost Uranium Mine Hospital in Ostrov nad Ohrí, Karlovy Vary District, Karlovy Vary Region Prisoner of war during WWll. Several attempts to escape from captivity, including stealing a German plane. After the war, he married Gertrude Rose, with whom he corresponded while in captivity. He returned to Czechoslovakia with her after the war. After the communist coup, he was sentenced to a total of thirty years in prison. He went through the toughest prisons, and worked in uranium mines. His health deteriorated, but he was denied help. He died of a heart attack on the night of August 11 to 12, 1957. His remains were not released to his family and he was secretly buried in a cemetery in Prague - Motola. His decorations, including an MBE, and other items were stolen by the StB during searches. In his native village of Laštany, a commemorative plaque was unveiled to him in 1994, ten years later he was awarded the City of Olomouc Award, and a street was named after him in the Cerný Most housing estate in Prague. Two films were made about Josef Bryks. The first, the British film "Srdce v zajetí" ('The Captive Heart'), was made in 1946, the second 'The Man Who Overestimated the Czech Soul, or the Escapes of Josef Bryks', was made in 2007, produced by Czech Television. Several books have been published about his fate.… (courtesy RAF Museum)	Bio Wikipedia
2	Liška	Antonin	Later General		1911 in Hromnice near Pilsen.	Czech	Pilot		RAFVR	Fighter	312Sqn	1942-06-29	Spitfire	Vb						Fighter sweep	Injured		Colouration by Jonáš Fiskar	Graduated from the Military Academy in Hranice and the Aviation Department of the Military Academy in Prostějov. Worked at regiment no. 1 - TGM in Hradec Králové. In July 1939 he went to Poland. He left a wife in the protectorate who could not follow her husband due to pregnancy and was then interrogated by the Gestapo throughout the war and imprisoned for over a year. He was accepted into the Polish Air Force, but did not get to fly again due to the lack of aircraft and the rapid turn of events. On September 19, 1939, he was captured by the Soviet army during the retreat and interned on the territory of the USSR. After the intervention of the Czechoslovak foreign government in France, a group of airmen were released from internment and sent back to France via Istanbul, Egypt, India and back around Africa. The journey took three months. During this time, France was defeated and the airmen arrived in Great Britain in October 1940. After training, Antonín Liška went first to the 1Sqn on Hurricane II, then to 312Sqn (Czechoslovak)on Spitfire II, Vb. During a combat flight 1942-06-29 he suffered severe injuries. After convalescence, he completed a course for operational controllers, an internship with the Signal Corps and finally the Air Transport School. He worked at the Air Transport Command as a liaison officer. After WWll he returned to Czechoslovakia to the newly created Air Transport Regiment as deputy commander, later as commander. He flew here with, among others, Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk. In 1949, he was dismissed from the army without reason. He sold cars, delivered milk, worked as a parquet worker, later in the design department of the Plzeň Smelter Project and in Škodovce (then the V.I. Lenin Works) as a sales worker, also teaching English at the labor school here. Published his wartime experiences in the books 'Shadows in the Sky' (J .R. Vilímek 1946),' Men's Paths' (Sorgend Plzeň 1992). He helped the director Zdenek Svěrak in writing the script for the famous film 'Dark Blue World' about Czechoslovak airmen in Great Britain. He was a multi-talented person. A good musician, sportsman and painted many pictures. General Antonín Liška died 1998-12-03. He is buried in his native Hromnice. He is rightfully one of the most important figures in the history of Pilsen. General Liška is an honorary citizen of the city of Pilsen.
3	Ocelka	Antonin	Flight Sergeant	787772	Age 31	Czech	Pilot		RAFVR	Fighter Command	312Sqn Czechoslovakia	1944-09-18	Spitfire	IX	MK682	DU-C	RAF North Weald	13:05	Escort	See archive report for details. Crashed at Strijen	PoW			Born on the 27th May 1913 in Lipník nad Bečvou, Czechoslovakia	Archive report of incident
4	Ocelka	Antonin	Sergeant	787772	Age 30	Czech	Pilot		RAFVR	Fighter Command	57 Operational Training Unit	1943-04-06	Spitfire	IIb	P8671				Training	See archive report for details. Forced landing	Survived the war			Born on the 27th May 1913 in Lipník nad Bečvou, Czechoslovakia	Archive report of incident
5	Tomanek	Josef	Sergeant	787501	1918-03-13 Prerov, Czechoslovakia	Czechoslovakia	Pilot		RAF	Bomber Command	311Sqn Czechoslovakia	1941-12-28	Wellington	Ic	T2553	KX-B	East Wretham	Take off: 1716	Wilhelmshaven	Crashed North Sea 100 km west of Petten, Noord-Holland	Killed	Runnymede		He learned to glide at the local flying club. After the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1938, he fled to England via France. Trained as a pilot, assigned to 311 Sqn (Czech). Took off from RAF East Wretham at 17:16 hrs local time for an operation to Wilhelmshaven in Germany. Over the target, the aircraft was damaged by Flak. Homeward-bound, the port engine caught fire causing the propellor to break off, severing control links; crashed in the North Sea west of Petten (Noord-Holland). Fg Off Mohr is buried in Bergen General Cemetery; the rest of those who died are commemorated on the Runnymede Memorial. Fg Off Scerba was repatriated on 16 September 1944 Five of the six crew members managed to get into the dinghy. The tail gunner drowned when the wreckage sank. After two days, they were spotted 90 kilometers west of Den Helder by British planes. They threw off an aid package, but it floated away. On the morning of New Year’s Day, Josef Tomanek succumbed to the winter hardships. His body was thrown overboard by his comrades. It was not until 3 January that the dinghy and the other four crew members washed ashore at Petten. In the meantime, one of the crew members had died. (Josef Mohr was buried in the war cemetery of Bergen) Josef Tomanek is still missing. His family in the Czech Republic did not know that Josef had been killed until after the war.	Monument to Lost At Sea
6	Zadrobilek	Ladislav	Pilot Officer	132694		Czech	Pilot		Czechoslovakia	Fighter Command	310Sqn Czechoslovakia	1943-01-02	Spitfire	Vc	AR610				Scramble	Damaged	Injured
7	Borovec	Rudolf	FLying Officer	81885	Age 27	Czech	Pilot		RAFVR	Eighteen Command	19Sqn	1942-04-01	Spitfire	Vb	AD377	QV-L	RAF Ludham, Norfolk		Patrol	See Archive report for further details	Survived bt later killed	Central cemetery, Pardubice, Czechia		Born on the 05th February 1915 in Pardubice, Czechoslovakia. The text on the memorial reads: 'Borovec Rudolf/ št.captain of the air force, former adjutant of the Royal Air Force,/fighter of the Slovak uprising and partisan/ * 5. 2. 1915 - +9. 11. 1944/ fell in Slovakia between Železn and Magura/ during the Uprising near Báňská Bystrica. Rudolf Borovec/ *9. 1885, martyred in Oswiecim 1943".	Read Archive Loss Report Crowdfunding appeal page