Last Czechoslovak fighter pilot Antonín Fajkus dies at 101
Antonín Fajkus, a war veteran and fighter pilot from World War II, has died at the age of 101. A native of South Moravia, Fajkus spent most of his life in the U.S., and served in the legendary U.S. Air Force's 40th Fighter Squadron, known as the “Red Devils”. His extraordinary story remained unknown to the public until last year.
Antonín Fajkus was born in South Moravia, in the village of Lipov. In the 1930s, due to the economic crisis, his family moved to Chicago, a city with a traditionally large Czech community. After the attack on Pearl Harbor, Fajkus enlisted in the U.S. Air Force, specifically in a squadron called the Red Devils, where he fought against the Japanese in the Pacific.
Historian Jiří Klůc, who documented the pilot’s extraordinary story, provides more details:
“When World War II broke out, Mr. Fajkus was still a Czechoslovak citizen. However, by serving as a volunteer in the American army, he automatically acquired American citizenship. So he didn’t actually get it until 1940-1941. He then became a soldier in the U.S. Army Air Corps, where he volunteered and was accepted, went through pilot training, and ultimately became a fighter pilot.”
Mr. Fajkus flew a total of 190 operational flights and logged over 500 combat hours. He had at least one confirmed and one probable kill of an enemy aircraft, says Mr. Klůc:
“He participated in combat under unimaginably difficult conditions in the tropics of New Guinea and the Philippines. And not only did he fly those operational missions, but he also had some successes. He shot down enemy aircraft and was awarded the United States Air Medal six times.”
Despite his achievements, Antonín Fajkus remained completely unknown in the Czech Republic until recently. Historian Jiří Klůc discovered his story by coincidence while looking for accommodation in Chicago:
“I reached out to a few people on social media, and I got a call from a gentleman who mentioned that his friend, a woman, had a grandfather who was 100 years old, spoke Czech, had no one to talk to in Czech, and, in passing, mentioned that he was a fighter pilot and would love to have a visitor. And so the story began to unfold, a story nobody knew about, revealing the last living Czech-born fighter pilot from World War II.”
For Mr. Fajkus' 101st birthday last year, the historian invited people to send the former pilot an equal number of birthday cards. The veteran ended up receiving over 900, including greetings from President Petr Pavel and his wife, Eva. He has also written a book documenting the pilot’s extraordinary life story, which has just been released in Czech and will hopefully soon be available in English as well.
