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Operation: Patrol
Date: 01st April 1942 (Wednesday)
Unit: No. 19 Squadron (motto: Possunt quia posse videntur - 'They can because they think they can'). 12 Group
Type: Spitfire Vb
Serial: AD377
Code: QV-L
Base: RAF Ludham, Norfolk
Location: Hickling Broad, Norfolk
Pilot: F/O. Rudolf Borovec 81885 RAFVR Age 27. Survived - injured
REASON FOR LOSS:
A remarkable but short career. Served in the Free French Airforce, Royal Air Force, Czechoslovakian Airforce and then with the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Regiment.
On Thursday the 10th of April 1941 flying Hurricane IIb Z2818 he escaped injury when the undercarriage collapsed on landing at RAF Northolt. The aircraft was repaired and later transferred to 249 squadron in Malta. Lost on the 17th of July 1941 when it failed to return from operations - 22-year-old, Sgt. Maurice Guest 920596 RAFVR from Fossebridge, Gloucestershire, was listed as missing.
Whilst on final approach to RAF Ludham and at only 300 ft his Merlin 45 engine failed. The aircraft came down in Hickling Broad. The pilot escaped with minor injuries, managed to extricate himself and successfully paddled ashore in a dinghy, returning to Ludham on foot. The aircraft broke into three parts and sank.
Also served with 310 and 312 squadrons.
A group in North Yorkshire led by David Daniells believes that it has pinpointed the site of a wartime Spitfire crash on the Norfolk Broads. It is currently raising funds to conduct a professional survey to establish the extent of any remains. A crowdfunding site has been set up offering more information on the project, and opportunities to support it. Should the campaign be successful, the MOD has said it will issue a licence to recover the aircraft’s remains.
Newspaper article - Lady in the Lake Spitfire
On the 21st of February, Colonel Frantisek Fajtl was named Commander of Czechoslovakian fighters sent to the Soviet Union to fight on the eastern front.
The tide of war was turning and Borovec responded to an appeal for Czech exiles to join a unit being formed in the USSR of Czech nationals to fight on the Soviet front.
In August 1944 there came the Slovak national uprising against the Germans and a detachment of 21 Lavochins and pilots ferried to Slovakia in support and were soon in a pitched battle with the Germans. The detachment was overstretched and under-resourced however and when Rudolf’s aircraft was damaged by ground fire and damaged in a forced landing there was no replacement and he spent a spell working for Soviet forward control directing ground attacks against the Wehrmacht.
Archive report on Sq/Ldr. Frantisek Fajtl earlier evasion
Subsequently F/O. Rudolf Borovec was back in the fight and flew dozens of ground attack sorties in treacherous conditions, lacking proper support, spares and servicing. The uprising was being gradually suppressed however and the Slovak enclave shrank to a point where air operations were unsustainable. The 12 remaining LA-5s were forced to escape back to Russia but a superior officer’s aircraft crashed on take-off and Borovec ceded his aircraft and was left behind. He had no choice now but to join the retreating rebels as they headed for the inhospitable mountains to continue the fight as partisans. on forward control directing ground attacks against the Wehrmacht.
On the 9th of November 1944, in a snow blizzard, elements of his unit, the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Regiment approached a German mobile radio vehicle near Solisko hoping to acquire radio parts. As they neared it a volley of shots rang out from within the vehicle and Rudolf Borovec was shot dead.
Colonel Frantisek Fajtl commanded until the end of WW2. The regiment was at first deployed to help the Slovak National Uprising and later participated in the closing battles of the Moravian Gate. He reached liberated Prague in mid-May 194B.
Colonel Frantisek Fajtl - Obituary here.
After the communist coup of 1948 Colonel Fajtl was expelled from the army in 1949. In January 1950, he was arrested and his wife and daughter were forcibly removed from their flat in Prague. After several days of interrogations, he was moved to a forced labour camp in Mirovice where he was held without sentencing for 17 months. After his release, he and his family lived outside of Prague, where he was only allowed to work as a manual labourer or a clerk. He achieved full rehabilitation only after the communist regime fell.
He died in Prague, survived by his wife Hana and two daughters on the 04th October 2006, age 94. Buried in the Krematorium Strašnice in Prague.
Burial details:
F/O. Rudolf Borovec, 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".
Researched and dedicated to the relatives of this crew with thanks to the National Archive, Kew. AIR-27-.253-31/31. Daily Mirror. David Daniells crowdfunding appeal.,
KTY 09-09-2024
At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember
them. - Laurence
Binyon
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Last Modified: 10 September 2024, 15:57