AR banner
Search Tips Advanced Search
Back to Top

Info LogoAdd to or correct this story with a few clicks.
Archive Report: Allied Forces

Compiled from official National Archive and Service sources, contemporary press reports, personal logbooks, diaries and correspondence, reference books, other sources, and interviews.
Check our Research databases: Database List

.

We seek additional information and photographs. Please contact us via the Helpdesk.

310 squadron badge
07.09.1940 No. 310 Squadron Hurricane I V7437 Sgt Koukal

Operation: Intrusion

Date: 7th September 1940 (Saturday)

Unit: No. 310 Squadron (Czech)

Type: Hurricane I

Serial: V7437

Base: RAF Duxford, Cambridgeshire

Location: Near Capel Fleet, Hart Marshes, Isle of Sheppey, England

Pilot: Sgt. Josef Koukal 787979 RAFVR Age 28. Badly injured

REASON FOR LOSS:

7th September 1940 - the day the Luftwaffe started its blitz campaign on London.

At 17.15 hrs over Southend Sgt Koukal shot down a BF109. During combat over the Thames Estuary the Hurricane flown by Sgt Koukal was hit by gunfire. He managed to bale out but as the shells had ignited the fuel tanks he suffered severe burns. The aircraft crashed at 18.10 hrs at the locate shown.

He spent the next two years under the constant care of the experts at East Grinstead Hospital under Dr. Archibald Mcindoe and after a total of over 22 operations he went back to fly again.

The Kent Battle of Britain Museum excavated the crash site in 1972 and recovered many pieces from the aircraft including as shown, the Rolls Royce Merlin engine.

Further information:

Sgt. Josef Koukal was born on the 6th May 1912 in Jenisovice, Czechoslovakia. He was serving in the Czech Air Force when the Germans took over the country on 15th March 1939. He escaped to Poland and joined the Czech Air Force detachment there. When Poland fell Kestler made his way to France and in late 1939 he joined l’Armee de l'Air. After the French collapse in June 1940, he made his way to England. Married Franceska Putnarovou in 1936 survived the war. They had two children, Joseph and Peter. Sadly he died of a heart attack on the 23rd February 1980 in Luže.

Researched for relatives of the pilot. With thanks to the following for further information supplied, Pavel Studnička for his personal notes on Josef, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses' Vol. 1, Winston G. Ramsey - 'Battle of Britain Then and Now'. Edward Bishop - 'McIndoe's Army'. Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

30 May 2022: we are grateful to Tom Dolezal for pointing out Koukal was not awarded the DFC, as we previously stated. We were misled by a mistake on a memorial plaque in his hometown of Luže.

On Czech Independence Day 2020, 36 years after his death, he was awarded the Order of the White Lion, the Czech Republic's highest award.

Order White Lion Czech

Pages of Outstanding Interest
History Airborne Forces •  Soviet Night Witches •  Bomber Command Memories •  Abbreviations •  Gardening Codenames
CWGC: Your Relative's Grave Explained •  USA Flygirls •  Axis Awards Descriptions •  'Lack Of Moral Fibre'
Concept of Colonial Discrimination  •  Unauthorised First Long Range Mustang Attack
RAAF Bomb Aimer Evades with Maquis •  SOE Heroine Nancy Wake •  Fane: Motor Racing PRU Legend
Acknowledgements
Sources used by us in compiling Archive Reports include: Bill Chorley - 'Bomber Command Losses Vols. 1-9, plus ongoing revisions', Dr. Theo E.W. Boiten and Mr. Roderick J. Mackenzie - 'Nightfighter War Diaries Vols. 1 and 2', Martin Middlebrook and Chris Everitt - 'Bomber Command War Diaries', Commonwealth War Graves Commission, Tom Kracker - Kracker Luftwaffe Archives, Michel Beckers, Major Fred Paradie (RCAF) and MWO François Dutil (RCAF) - Paradie Archive (on this site), Jean Schadskaje, Major Jack O'Connor USAF (Retd.), Robert Gretzyngier, Wojtek Matusiak, Waldemar Wójcik and Józef Zieliński - 'Ku Czci Połeglyçh Lotnikow 1939-1945', Archiwum - Polish Air Force Archive (on this site), Anna Krzystek, Tadeusz Krzystek - 'Polskie Siły Powietrzne w Wielkiej Brytanii', Franek Grabowski, Norman L.R. Franks 'Fighter Command Losses', Stan D. Bishop, John A. Hey MBE, Gerrie Franken and Maco Cillessen - Losses of the US 8th and 9th Air Forces, Vols 1-6, Dr. Theo E.W. Boiton - Nachtjagd Combat Archives, Vols 1-13. Aircrew Remembered Databases and our own archives. We are grateful for the support and encouragement of CWGC, UK Imperial War Museum, Australian War Memorial, Australian National Archives, New Zealand National Archives, UK National Archives and Fold3 and countless dedicated friends and researchers across the world.
Click any image to enlarge it

Click to add your info via ticket on Helpdesk •Click to let us know via ticket on Helpdesk• Click to buy research books from Amazon •Click to explore the entire site
If you would like to comment on this page, please do so via our Helpdesk. Use the Submit a Ticket option to send your comments. After review, our Editors will publish your comment below with your first name, but not your email address.

A word from the Editor: your contribution is important. We welcome your comments and information. Thanks in advance.

At the going down of the sun, and in the morning we will remember them. - Laurence Binyon
All site material (except as noted elsewhere) is owned or managed by Aircrew Remembered and should not be used without prior permission.
© Aircrew Remembered 2012 - 2023
Last Modified: 30 May 2022, 11:34

Monitor Additions/Changes?Click to be informed of changes to this page. Create account for first monitor only, thereafter very fast. Click to close without creating monitor