Hobby Master Archive

Josef František was born in Czechoslovakia joining the Air Force in 1934. When Czechoslovakia was given to Germany František fled to Poland, then to France and eventually to England where he was assigned to the No. 303 (Polish) Squadron flying the Hawker Hurricane I. His first victory came on September 2, while his last was on September 30, 1940 when he failed to return. He shot down 17 aircraft and was the highest scoring Allied pilot during the Battle of Britain. Seven of his victories were scored flying R4175. Sgt. Josef František, was decorated posthumously with The White Lion decoration during the Czech national holiday ( 28th October 2015 ). It is the highest possible decoration given by Czech president.