Josef Frantisek was born in Czechoslovakia joining the Air Force in 1934. When Czechoslovakia was annexed by Germany he 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 had shot down 17 aircraft and was the highest scoring Allied pilot during the Battle of Britain. Seven of his victories were scored flying R4175. The intensity can only be imagined!
The Hurricane was the first British monoplane with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit and the first to mount 8 machine guns. It went into operational service in December 1937 with RAF 111 Squadron. Over shadowed by the faster and more nimble Spitfire, it was nonetheless the major player in the Battle of Britain - 80% of the 1,792 German aircraft shot down resulted from action with some involvement by Hurricanes - 14,533 were produced in all variants.