Zbysek Necas was just 18, and still a high school student, when he
escaped from the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia a month before
the outbreak of war in 1939. He managed to make his way to Britain
where he had a cousin. Necas enlisted in the RAF in 1940, initially
being posted as an interpreter at the Czech Depot. Some of his
early duties involved the interrogation of captured German aircrew.
He was, however, determined to fly. That wish came not as a pilot,
but as a radar operator. In time, Necas was posted to 68 Squadron,
which throughout the war had a large number of Czech exiles on its
strength - one flight was entirely Czech-manned. In this moving
memoir, he details just what it was like to serve as part of an RAF
night fighter crew during the second half of the Second World War.
From the organisation of squadron and operations, to the directing
of night fighters in the bomber stream, problems of maintaining
contact with the target, the duration of patrols to interception
tactics, all, and more, is revealed in this book. Having trained on
the Blenheim Mk.IV, Necas' operational patrols began on Bristol
Beaufighters, the squadron subsequently converting to de Havilland
Mosquitoes. There are of course, the graphic accounts of victory in
the air. This includes combat with a Heinkel He 177 Grief over
North Sea, or the explosion of a Dornier Do 217 after another
successful interception. As well as nighttime intruder operations
over Europe, from the summer of 1944, 68 Squadron, Necas included,
found itself drawn into the battle against Hitler's V-weapons,
particularly the V1. Necas' crew ended the war with three confirmed
kills, one probable, and two damaged. After the war, Necas returned
to his homeland where he received the tragic news that that none of
his immediate family had survived the German occupation. This is
Zbysek Necas' story of his part in the defence of Britain's skies
and the final victory against the Third Reich.
General
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