Miroslav Štandera (5 October 1918 – 19 February 2014) was a

Czech Czech may refer to: * Anything from or related to the Czech Republic, a country in Europe ** Czech language ** Czechs, the people of the area ** Czech culture ** Czech cuisine * One of three mythical brothers, Lech, Czech, and Rus *Czech (surnam ...

fighter pilot A fighter pilot or combat pilot is a Military aviation, military aviator trained to engage in air-to-air combat, Air-to-ground weaponry, air-to-ground combat and sometimes Electronic-warfare aircraft, electronic warfare while in the cockpit of ...

who flew combat missions for the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

and the

Royal Air Force The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the Air force, air and space force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. It was formed towards the end of the World War I, First World War on 1 April 1918, on the merger of t ...

during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. Štandera was one of the final two surviving Czech combat pilots who flew for the Allies throughout the entire period of World War II. He was also the last surviving Czech pilot who had flown for France during the war.

Biography

Early life

Štandera was born on 5 October 1918. In 1936, he enlisted in the

Czechoslovak Air Force The Czechoslovak Air Force (''Československé letectvo'') or the Czechoslovak Army Air Force (''Československé vojenské letectvo'') was the air force branch of the Czechoslovak Army formed in October 1918. The armed forces of Czechoslovakia c ...

and became an air force pilot after completing aviation school.

World War II

He fled from Czechoslovakia to France in 1939 following the German invasion and occupation of the country. Standera joined the

and fought against the

Nazi German Nazi Germany, officially known as the German Reich and later the Greater German Reich, was the German state between 1933 and 1945, when Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party controlled the country, transforming it into a totalitarian dictat ...

pilots during the invasion of France in May 1940. In June 1940, Štandera was seriously wounded during an aerial

dogfight A dogfight, or dog fight, is an air combat manoeuvring, aerial battle between fighter aircraft that is conducted at close range. Modern terminology for air-to-air combat is air combat manoeuvring (ACM), which refers to tactical situations requir ...

, but survived the crash landing. Štandera was evacuated to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

for medical treatment following the

Fall of France The Battle of France (; 10 May – 25 June 1940), also known as the Western Campaign (), the French Campaign (, ) and the Fall of France, during the Second World War was the German invasion of the Low Countries (Belgium, Luxembourg and the Net ...

. There he became one of the founding members of the

No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF No. 312 Squadron RAF was a Czechoslovak-manned fighter squadron of the Royal Air Force in the Second World War. History The squadron was formed at Duxford on 29 August 1940. It was crewed mostly by escaped Czechoslovak pilots, but its first ...

, a

squadron made up of exiled Czechoslovak fighter pilots. In 1940, he was one of 87 Czechoslovak fighter pilots who defended the United Kingdom during the

Battle of Britain The Battle of Britain () was a military campaign of the Second World War, in which the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the Fleet Air Arm (FAA) of the Royal Navy defended the United Kingdom (UK) against large-scale attacks by Nazi Germany's air force ...

. He piloted twin-engine fighter bombers for nighttime bombing raids into Germany and occupied France throughout the war. In total, Štandera flew 1,320 hours of combat during World War II. He also protected the air space over Allied forces during the

Invasion of Normandy Operation Overlord was the codename for the Battle of Normandy, the Allied operation that launched the successful liberation of German-occupied Western Europe during World War II. The operation was launched on 6 June 1944 ( D-Day) with the ...

in June 1944.

Post-war life and career

Miroslav Štandera returned to his native Czechoslovakia following the end of World War II. However, he was expelled from the Czechoslovak Air Force by the new

Communist government A communist state, also known as a Marxist–Leninist state, is a one-party state in which the totality of the power belongs to a party adhering to some form of Marxism–Leninism, a branch of the communist ideology. Marxism–Leninism was ...

after the

1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état In late February 1948, the Communist Party of Czechoslovakia (KSČ), with Soviet backing, assumed undisputed control over the government of Czechoslovakia through a coup d'état. It marked the beginning of four decades of the party's rule in t ...

. The

Czechoslovak Socialist Republic The Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, (Czech language, Czech and Slovak language, Slovak: ''Československá socialistická republika'', ČSSR) known from 1948 to 1960 as the Czechoslovak Republic (''Československá republika)'', Fourth Czecho ...

was seeking to purge members of the armed forces who had served for Western European countries during the war. Štandera fled to the United Kingdom in 1948, where he rejoined the

. Štandera retired from the Royal Air Force (RAF) in 1955. Štandera became a

silversmith A silversmith is a metalworker who crafts objects from silver. The terms ''silversmith'' and ''goldsmith'' are not exact synonyms, as the techniques, training, history, and guilds are (or were, at least) largely the same but differed in that t ...

in Britain after retiring from the RAF. He took and

apprenticeship Apprenticeship is a system for training a potential new practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study. Apprenticeships may also enable practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulat ...

and repaired silver

teapot A teapot is a vessel used for steeping tea leaves or a herbal mix in boiling or near-boiling water and serving the resulting infusion called tea; usually put in a teacup. It is one of the core components of teaware. Teapots usually have an ...

s. He retired in the early 1980s. In 1984, Štandera moved from Britain to

Bavaria Bavaria, officially the Free State of Bavaria, is a States of Germany, state in the southeast of Germany. With an area of , it is the list of German states by area, largest German state by land area, comprising approximately 1/5 of the total l ...

West Germany West Germany was the common English name for the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG) from its formation on 23 May 1949 until German reunification, its reunification with East Germany on 3 October 1990. It is sometimes known as the Bonn Republi ...

. He returned to the Czech Republic in 1994 to live with his daughter's family in

Plzeň Plzeň (), also known in English and German as Pilsen (), is a city in the Czech Republic. It is the Statutory city (Czech Republic), fourth most populous city in the Czech Republic with about 188,000 inhabitants. It is located about west of P ...

. In 2000,

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) * President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television *'' Præsident ...

Vaclav Havel bestowed Štandera with the honorary rank of brigadier general. He also received two Czechoslovak War Crosses and three Czechoslovak Bravery Medals for his service during World War II. In 2006, he was honored with the

Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk The Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk () is an order (decoration), Order of the Czech Republic and the former Czechoslovakia. It was established in 1990 after the Velvet Revolution, and re-established in 1994 (following the dissolution of Czechosl ...

. Miroslav Štandera died in Plzeň, Czech Republic, on 19 February 2014, at the age of 94. His death was announced by officials from the Plzeň city hall. His funeral was held at the Cathedral of St. Bartholomew in Plzen on 26 February 2014.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Standera, Miroslav 1918 births 2014 deaths Royal Air Force officers Royal Air Force personnel of World War II Czechoslovak Air Force officers Czechoslovak military personnel of World War II Recipients of the Czechoslovak War Cross Recipients of the Order of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk Czechoslovak expatriates in the United Kingdom Czechoslovak expatriates in France Czechoslovak expatriates in Germany Czechoslovak exiles People from Plzeň The Few