And once again, I can turn this over to someone else
SimonCraig, you're up
During the Battle of Britain,
foreign pilots volunteered to fight with the Royal Air Force. Czech Sergeant Josef Frantisek was one of these pilots, having reached Britain after escaping internment in Romania. After flying with the French, Frantisek signed up with the RAF, but was
so independent in searching for the enemy that he was loaned an aircraft for his one man war. Flying his Hawker Hurricane, Frantisek went on to become the top scoring Allied Ace in the Battle of Britain, with 17 kills. He often targeted returning German fighters, knocking them out of the sky before they could cross the English channel. He claimed a total of 17 fighters, flying only one year in combat. He was not shot down, but crashed his Hurricane in 1940 while performing aerobatics, possibly to impress his girlfriend, possibly from sheer exhaustion.