Jindřich Bartoš

Who was Jindřich Bartoš?

Flying Officer Jindřich "Henry" Bartoš was a Czechoslovakian fighter pilot who flew with the Royal Air Force during the Battle of Britain.

Bartoš was born in 1911 in Lugansk, which at the time was part of the erstwhile Russian Empire. He graduated as a pilot from the Czechoslovakian Army Academy in 1935. He served in the Czech Air Force with the 2nd Air Regiment. When Germany invaded Czechoslovakia in 1938, Bartos he escaped to Poland and then in the summer of 1939 on to France. On arrival in France, he joined the French Foreign Legion and then transferred to the Armee de l'Air where he fought for the Allies in the Battle of France.

Following the fall of France, Bartoš sailed, via Casablanca to Gibraltar, where he transferred to another ship and eventually landed in Cardiff on 5 August 1940, with fellow Czech Otto Hanzlíček.

Bartoš joined the Royal Air Force and trained as a Hurricane pilot. He joined No. 312 Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron RAF on 5 September 1940 at RAF Duxford and became an operational pilot on 2 October 1940.