Strana 40
BL973, F/Lt Stanislav Fejfar, No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF Hornchurch,
the United Kingdom, March-May 1942
BM124, S/Ldr Brendan E. F. Finnucane, CO of No. 602 Squadron, RAF Kenley,
United Kingdom, April 1942
Stanislav Fejfar, a member of Czechoslovak
Air Force before the war, flew as commander
of 45th Fighter Squadron based in Slovakia
during the Munich crisis. He scored his first two
kills during the Battle of France as a member
of Armee de l’Air flying MS.406 with GC I/6.
On July 12, 1940 he arrived in Great Britain
aboard the ship Neuralia. On September 9,
he started his operational career as a Pilot
Officer with No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron
RAF scoring his first out of three kills claimed
during the Battle of Britain. On July 21, 1941,
he joined No. 313 (Czechoslovak) Squadron as
a F/Lt in the position of B Flight leader. Stanislav
Fejfar perished on May 17, 1942, in the cockpit
of Spitfire Mk.Vb BL973 during the Ramrod
33 mission. He was shot down by Hptm. Josef
Priller between Guines and Audebert in the
northern France. A couple of days earlier Priller
had also shot down Sergeant Karel Pavlík, author
of Pluto the Dog nose art on Fejfar’s Spitfire.
Spitfire s/n BM124 was a presentation aircraft
donated to Britain by Queen Salote of Tonga
and assigned to S/Ldr Brendan Finucane.
It was delivered on March 14, 1942, and Finucane
was flying with it continuously until June 18,
1942, when he hit the ground with the tip of the
wing while landing at Redhill. The aircraft was
severely damaged, and although it was returned
to the unit after extensive repairs, Finucane did
not fly it again. He scored his last victories in
its cockpit. Finucane’s BM124, was repainted on
the upper surfaces in Dark Slate Grey / Extra
Dark Sea Grey naval shades. Under the front
badge, he had his personal Shamrock emblem
and the fuselage letter W painted on. For
propaganda purposes, the inscription QUEEN
of SALOTE was painted on the fuel tank cover
in May. As it later turned out, the inscription
was not written correctly, and the Air Ministry
submitted an amendment requesting that the
photographs taken be changed from QUEEN of
SALOTE to QUEEN SALOTE. The word “of” was
thus roughly scraped off the negatives. Out of
respect for the origins and traditions of No. 602
Squadron, Finucane had the squadron’s emblem,
a red Scottish lion rampant in a yellow shield,
placed on the engine cowlings of the No. 602
Squadron Spitfires. During his wartime career,
Finucane achieved 32 aerial victories, becoming
the third most successful Spitfire pilot during
World War II.
KITS 01/2026
INFO Eduard40
January 2026