WWII long shot

[andy-m]

this is a long shot, but what the hell:-

My grandfather was Czechoslovakian. like many czech's and polish people, during WW2, he came to england to fight against the germans. he wanted to be a pilot, but due to a perforated eardrum, he wasnt aloud to fly. as he was a mechanic before the war, he became flight mechanic E for 312Sq.
there were 4 squadrons in the RAF consisting of Czechoslovakians, 310, 311, 312 and 313Sq.
312sq only ever flew huricanes and spitfires, both of which used the merlin engine.
he stayed with the squadron and met my grandmother (Who was in the NAAFI) while the squadron was based in england (They moved around quite a lot) and left the squadron when they were moved to france at the end of the war as he had met his future wife, my grandmother.

Every so often i do a search of the net just looking for info/pictures of 312Sq.
ive seen most of all there is to see, and tracked down a spitfire in america that is still flying and used to be in 312Sq.
I have never been able to find any pictures of my grandfather (Augustine Zavoda, Flight Mechanic E) in 312Sq.
i know its a long shot, but, anyone on here have any Czech relatives from the war? in any of the 4 old Czech squadrons? any old pictures?
i doubt anyone will have any info, but, its worth asking just in case.

on a side note, I am quietly proud of my grandfather. he traveled from Czechoslovakia with a group of people to england. he recieved a medal for swiming across the river Seine in france to get a boat and bring it back to the other side so that the group could cross the river and continue their journey to England.
Only a small thing, but if i stop and think about it, put myself in his shoes at that time, I dont know if i would have the nerve to do that.

There are many places to start the searching. Being WWII, it should be fairly easy to track down. Most regiments or squadrons did a photograph pretty much annually, in the case of the RAF and it's commonwealth allies, this included as a rule all Officers, NCO's, Pilots, Ground Crew and Armourers and Mechanics / Engineers. On some occasions even peripheral staff.

I would suggest as a first port of call (if you haven't already) the RAF website, they have a fairly extensive site. If you find nothing there, don't give up and use the contact us button to ask questions.

Try to find out if there is a 312 squadron old boys club, or any re-union either past or present, these guys tended to stick together or keep in touch after the war.

Then you have the records office at Kew and the Imperial War Museum to investigate.

I am currently starting a project to find out the details of the WWI dead for my home town of Crowborough, and it takes an awful lot of digging around just to get even started, made even harder due to the fact that lots of records were destroyed in the Blitz! But stick with it, it will be well worth while when it all sorts out.

Another point of call is Ancestry.com who have started war trails, they might be useful.

Good luck and keep us informed of anything you find.

[andy-m]

chers for the info, have sent an e-mail to the imperial war museum HQ as a starting point

[Bull]

found this short vid on you tube also.



and this one.but i guess you have already watched these.

[andy-m]

not seen the first one before, although i have seen most o fthe pictures.
had only seen stills of the colour video, good find, cheers.