Sgt Svatopluk Stulir.
Photograph from "Mnozi Nedoleteli" by Frantisek Loucky (Prague 1989),
The receipt of the picture of the rear of the badge aroused a great deal of excitement and a deep sense of something special. It was marked with the route and dates of a man's escape from Czechoslovakia, to Poland, to Morrocco and the French Foreign Legion, to France and finally, to England and the RAF. It was also marked with his initials, including the distinctive accents used in the Czech language
The badge itself is not a pre-war, Czech made, pilot badge. It is in fact slightly small, a casting made from an original badge, judging by the detail contained in it, and made from a fairly soft alloy. It is quite thin and has been polished flat on the rear to take the engraving. The wings and crest have been lightly gilded. The back was engraved, presumably by its owner, as Czech forms have been used and then the back was gilded and buffed off, such that the writing stands out from the grey rear. It is interesting to contemplate that this man was aware of what a significant 17 months he had experienced to record it so.
Curious to find out a little more about this small fragment of history, it took some time to research but with the help of Roger Darlington, the son-in-law of Flight Lieutenant Karel M Kuttelwascher, the second highest Czech air ace, I discovered that these initials belonged only to one man who had this service record. Now, with a name, I searched first the Commonwealth War Graves Commission information and discovered that my man had in fact perished but was recorded with the CWGC, as he served with the RAF and was not transferred to any of the Czech squadrons Czech President in Exile Benes established.
Svatopluk Stulir was born on July 11th 1917 in Vresovice, a very small village some kilometres north east of the town of Kyjov, east of Brno in Czechoslovakia. I have not been able to discover much about his background, hampered by lack of language skills, but I shall continue to try. It is not clear whether he was a civilian pilot, a commercial pilot or a military pilot prior to leaving Czechoslovakia.I do know from his engraved badge that he left Czechoslovakia on May 28th 1939, arriving in Poland on June 4th 1939. The defence of Poland was very brief. I have no information about his subsequent route out of Poland, but I do have the date of his arrival in Alzir, Morrocco, July 27th 1939. Initially the French could only accept the Czech aviators into the Foreign Legion but later integrated them into "L'Armee de l'Air" on the French mainland. Stulir arrived on French soil January 1st 1940.
The date of Stulir's arrival in England is unusual in that it was December 4th 1940, some time after the fall of France. One is left with nothing but conjecture as to his whereabouts until this date.
I have found that Stulir was first attached to 257 (Burma) Sqdn RAF and later transferred to 65 (East India) Squadron RAF, which was at RAF Kirton-in-Lindsey in Lincolnshire in February 1941. The squadron was flying out of RAF Redhill in August 1941 and in October 1941, it transferred to RAF Westhampnett in Sussex, established on the grounds of the Goodwood racing circuit.
Most recently, with the help of Captain Radek Palicka of CSA Airlines in the Czech Republic, I have been able to find a little more about Stulir, a portrait photograph of him in RAF uniform, a picture of him in his aircraft at Kirton-in-Lindsey, and some copies of Fighter Command Combat Reports. While these are not complete service records, they help to illustrate Stulir's RAF career.
Stulir's original 65 Squadron aircraft was a Spitfire Mk 2, YT-W (P 8147). This is the aircraft he was flying on August 18th 1941 when he brought down an Me-109E 15 miles (25km) north-east of Gravelines. During this attack he was himself taking fire and returned to Redhill alone, with "class 3 damage".
On the day he was killed, November 8th 1941, he was flying Spitfire Mk 5b YT-R (W 5360). A fragment of the story is abstracted from the book "Na nebi hrdeho Albionu" by Jiri Rajlich (Cheb 2001),
"Sgt Svatopluk Stulir, Czech member of British 65 sqdn did not return from an operational flight near the French coast. This squadron had orders for this morning to attack a German naval convoy sighted in the vicinity of Le Touquet. For unknown reasons Stulir's Spitfire suddenly left the flight formation at 11:45 hrs and from that time this Spitfire has not been seen."
Sgt. Loucky, also a member of 65 squadron, wrote this to the author:
"I did not take part in this attack. Stulir flew with "B" flight. After landing, pilots reported that somewhere in the middle of the Channel he suddenly turned aside to the left; they called him by radio but he did not answer. The weather was poor that day. He did not report any failure. It is a really mysterious case."
Whatever the reason, Svatopluk Stulir most probably crashed into the waters of the Channel. His body and aircraft were never found.
Sad though it is that this young Czech flyer, like so many hundreds of others, never saw his homeland again, he is remembered and commemorated on panel 53 of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission memorial on the islet of Runnymede, near London, where the Magna Carta was signed, surely a great testimonial to a struggle for freedom.