MH: Did you join the Polish air force?

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Perina: No, I didn’t like the Poles–they had also grabbed part of my country, along with the Germans and the Hungarians. With several other pilots who had managed to escape before the Czechoslovakian air force was dissolved, I joined the French Foreign Legion. I had been on my way to North Africa when the Germans invaded Poland on September 1, 1939. When France then declared war on Germany, the Czechs obtained a contract from the French Air Ministry to transfer from the Foreign Legion to the Armée de l’Air.

MH: Given your past experience, did you need much training to adapt your skills to French aircraft?

Perina: I took a short refresher course at Chartres on the Curtiss H-75A, an export version of the P-36 Hawk. Some other Czech airmen were trained for the French-built Morane-Saulnier MS-406 and Dewoitine D-520 fighters. During air-to-air gunnery training at La Rochelle, I scored 64 hits on a drogue target out of 100 rounds fired–nobody in France had done so well.

MH: To what outfit were you posted from there?

Perina: On December 1, 1939, I was assigned to the 1^ère Escadrille of Groupe de Chasse I, Escadre de Chasse 5 (GC I/5), based at Suippes, near Reims. I did some aerobatics over the station, and when I landed, my joy was justified. The squadron had all the French pilots I’d met in Switzerland. Our CO was one of the best in the world–Capitaine Jean Accart, a former merchant seaman who later became an air force general. Accart and my French squadron mates always called me François Renopé, in case I was taken prisoner–the Germans would treat a French prisoner much better than they would an exiled Czech.

MH: When did you first see action with the French?

Perina: We saw few Germans during the winter of 1939 and the spring of 1940. Then came the German invasion on May 10, 1940. I was having breakfast in town and was about to prepare to go on patrol when I heard a loud droning noise in the air–and I knew it was the Germans.

MH: The ‘Phony War’ was over.

Perina: Yes. My CO came up and said, ‘This is it.’ As soon as we took off, we saw some Messerschmitt Bf-110s, but could not get close. A short time later, we saw a Dornier Do-17 and shot him down. Later, another officer from my squadron got another one.

MH: The day was far from over, wasn’t it?

Perina: That evening, we kept two-hour readiness patrols. I kept one with Capitaine Accart from 4 to 6 p.m. Germans flew in from the southwest toward our station just as we took off–more Do-17s at 6,000 feet, with no escort. The Germans had already bombed all the airfields around us, and they were probably overconfident. Accart and I teamed up to shoot down three of those bombers. Accart came from one side, and I attacked from the other. My second kill was the most horrible thing I ever saw–two chaps bailed out safely, but the third opened his parachute too soon and it got caught in the tail as the plane spun down. You could see him. In addition to our aerial successes, an anti-aircraft gunner hit a bomber in the middle of their formation, and it exploded.

MH: The French credited shared victories as whole kills for each of the pilots involved, so that gave you four aerial victories on your first day of combat, right?

Perina: Yes, and on that same day I was promoted to the French rank of sergent-chef. I became an ace the next day, May 11, when we caught some Heinkel He-111s over Reims and I got one, with the help of Accart and Sergent-Chef François Morel. On May 12, I was promoted to adjutant.

MH: The P-36 is not regarded as one of the great fighters of World War II, but you seem to have done well in it. What did you think of the Hawk?

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