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Photo: Michal Šula, MAFRA
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Last Czechoslovak RAF WWII Pilot Emil Boček passed away

On Saturday, March 25, 2023, the last Czechoslovak RAF pilot, Army General Emil Boček, died at the age of 100.

Born on February 25, 1923 in Brno - Tuřany, he secretly left home at the end of 1939 and reached Beirut via the Balkan route. As a private in an infantry regiment, he took part in the retreating battles in France in the summer of 1940, and in September 1940 he signed up for the air force in Britain. He was recruited into the RAF, serving as a mechanic with 312 Fighter Squadron. He started his training to become a pilot in October 1942 and continued the raining in 1943 in Canada (province of Alberta, cities of De Winton and Medicine Hat). From October 1944, he served as a fighter pilot with the Czechoslovak 310th fighter squadron, and has completed 26 operational flights. In 1946 he retired from the Air Force and opened a motorcycle repair shop. The communist persecutions after 1948 did not affect him, as he "voluntarily" transferred to the company Mototechna. He lived in Brno all his life (except for the war). On May 8, 2019 he was promoted to the rank of army general.