Josef Stehlík

Josef Stehlík (26 March 1915 – 30 May 1991) was a Czech fighter ace. In World War II he served in the French Air Force and then the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve. In 1944 he transferred to the Eastern Front, where he commanded the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Fighter Air Regiment.

Stehlík was a Czechoslovak Air Force pilot in the 1930s, latterly as a flying instructor. When Germany occupied and partitioned Czechoslovakia in 1939 he escaped via Poland to France. When France capitulated in 1940 Stehlík was evacuated to Britain, where he joined the Royal Air Force Volunteer Reserve.

Stehlík returned to Czechoslovakia in 1945 and resumed his Czechoslovak Air Force career until 1948, when the new Communist government politically purged armed forces personnel who had served in Western armed forces. Stehlík was remanded in prison for a year, demoted but then released without charge.

Stehlík was restricted to lowly civilian jobs until 1964, when the Communist government politically rehabilitated him and granted him a retired military rank. He died in post-Communist Czechoslovakia in 1991. Provided by Wikipedia