World War II: Interview with Czech Ace Frantisek Perina

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MH: Did your unit participate in the Battle of Britain?

Perina: Yes, but we didn’t have much luck. Number 312 Squadron was formed and trained at Duxford, but no patrol I was on ever made contact with any Germans. On top of that, I developed acute appendicitis and had to be taken out of my plane and flown to the hospital in Ely. Number 310 Squadron was more successful, as was the Canadian 242 Squadron, under Douglas Bader.

MH: What about No. 303 Squadron, the Polish outfit whose top ace during the Battle of Britain was Josef Frantisek?

Perina: Oh, yes, I knew Frantisek. He was a reconnaissance pilot at my prewar station. He was so undisciplined that he was nearly kicked out of the Czechoslovakian air force. Later, while going to France, he got into a dispute with an officer, as a result of which he stayed in Poland, later serving in France. I visited a Potez 63 escadrille while I was in France, and Frantisek was in it, flying reconnaissance missions. During the Battle of Britain, he got to fly Hurricanes with the Poles of No. 303 Squadron, but I understand he was just as much a disciplinary problem for them as he had been for us. Still, the records credit him with shooting down 17 German aircraft in September 1940. Frantisek was killed in a crash landing on October 8, 1940, but not before he had finally become known as the lone wolf type of hero that he apparently had always wanted to be.

MH: Did you continue to serve in No. 312 Squadron after that?

Perina: After recovering from the appendectomy, yes. The squadron moved to many different stations. While we were based at Ayr, Scotland, in 1941, our Hurricanes were replaced by Supermarine Spitfire Vs. When we left, we were replaced by a newly formed French unit, No. 345 Squadron ‘Berry.’ I didn’t know it until later, but its leader was none other than my old escadrille commander, Jean Accart!

MH: How could that be? Wasn’t he killed back in June 1940 near the Swiss border?

Perina: Somehow he had survived being hit between the eyes, but the doctors could not remove the bullet, because they feared he would go blind if they did. After leaving the hospital, Accart helped people to escape from France via Spain, then eventually made his own way to Britain. I didn’t know he was alive until 1978, when I saw him on television while I was living in Burbank, Calif. I then went to find him in France, where he had continued his career in the French air force, retiring as a general in 1965. He still had the bullet in his head, but he only passed away recently, on August 20, 1992.

MH: Did you have any aerial successes while in the Royal Air Force?

Perina: Not until my last fight, on June 3, 1942. There was a big fight over Cherbourg. We were escorting bombers when we were caught by a formation of Focke-Wulf Fw-190s. We lost quite a few pilots in that scrap. I fought four 190s and downed two of them–one of which was confirmed as my 12th victory of the war. The other two Germans escaped. After that, I was assigned to a gunnery course to serve as sector gunnery officer for one year. I was then posted to Fighter Command as part of the Czech liaison establishment, and served in that capacity until the end of the war on May 8, 1945.

MH: Did you return home after the war?

Perina: Yes, I went back to Czechoslovakia, where I resumed my career in the air force. I was CO of a gunnery school, and became well-known in aerobatics. I was even given my own Bücker Bü-131 Jungmeister aerobatic biplane by the air ministry.

MH: But I take it the euphoria of liberation did not last long.

Perina: After the Communists took over, I got into a big dispute with General Bedrich Reicin, the head of the secret police, right in front of the air ministry. Two days later, December 19, 1948, I got a telegram saying I was kicked out of the air force. Bitter and disgusted, I decided that I wanted out–again. Later, I learned that my decision had been a sensible one. General Reicin had been hanged, as had Vladislav Clementis, the minister of foreign affairs. The Communists were devouring their own!

Tags: 20th - 21st Century, Aces, Aerial Combat, People, World War II

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