František Peřina

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František Peřina (* April 8, 1911, Morkůvky u Břeclavi, now Czech Republic, died May 6, 2006 in Prague) was a Czech fighter pilot.

In 1939, following the first dissolution of Czechoslovakia and the annexation of Bohemia and Moravia by Nazi Germany, he fled the country. He travelled to France where he was shot down and seriously injured and later served with the RAF as a pilot in the 312. (Czechoslovak) Squadron. He shot down about fifteen German airplanes during WWII and became one of the most successful Czechoslovak fighter pilots.

After the war he returned to Czechoslovakia, where his wife Anna had been imprisoned in his absence. But in 1949 he was expelled from the army by communists and forced to flee again. He, his wife Anna and a friend of them flew to Germany in a small plane. In 1950 he was readmitted into the RAF and continued to serve here for about 10 years. In 1960 he moved to USA, where he worked in Webber Aircraft. In 1993 Peřina returned to Czech Rebublic.

He died Saturday, May 6, 2006, in Prague’s military hospital of an unspecified chronic disease and exhaustion. He was 95.

His wife Anna Peřinová (née Klimešová) had died several days before his admission to hospital on April 21, Radio Prague reported.

He had been awarded many Czech and Allied orders and medals and was made a General of the Czech army. One school in Prague has been given his name.

[edit] External link

• Obituary from The Times of London