88 pilots from Czechoslovakia fought in the RAF during the Battle of Britain. Photo credit: Military History Institute in Prague.
London, Jan 17 (CTK) – Jiri Roden (born Rosenstein), thought to have been the last living Czechoslovak pilot in Britain who served in the British Royal Air Force (RAF) during World War Two, died last May. The news was announced today on Facebook by the Czech embassy in London, who had heard news of his death only now.
Roden was born in Moravska Ostrava, now part of the city of Ostrava, in 1923. In August 1939, he was on the last train that successfully transported Czechoslovak Jewish children from Prague to Britain, organised by Nicholas Winton as part of the so-called Czech kindertransport.
During WWII he joined the RAF and served with the 312th Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron. After the war, he briefly returned to Czechoslovakia, before returning to London where he settled.
88 pilots from Czechoslovakia fought in the RAF during the Battle of Britain alongside over 2,300 British and several hundred foreign pilots.
