Battle of Britain Day (15 September) commemorates the great aerial battle that in the summer of 1940. During that battle, from 10 July–31 October, pilots from 15 countries joined British pilots and 2,927 Allied pilots were involved. One of those brave men, from Czechoslovakia, became a resident of Langford and is buried in the churchyard.
Josef Jan Hanus was born in 1911 in a village near Jilemnice, NE Czechoslovakia. After leaving school in 1931 he trained as a teacher but left to enlist in the Czech Air Force. Posted as an Observer to the 1st Air Regiment on 1 October 1932, he retrained as a pilot, qualifying in July 1935.
Like many Czech airmen after the German occupation he escaped to Poland and from there travelled to France and joined the Foreign Legion and then the French Air Force and, by late May 1940, he was serving with GCIII/1, near Paris.
Following the French collapse he escaped to England via Algeria, Casablanca and Gibraltar, where he landed on 12 July 1940. After being processed by the RAF, he was commissioned and went on to fly Hurricanes in September 1940. In October he was posted to 310 (Czechoslovak) Fighter Squadron.
He remained with the squadron until May 1941, when he went to 32 Squadron at Angle. In September 1941 Josef Hanus moved to 245 Squadron. He later served with 600, 125, and 68 Squadrons flying Beaufighters. On 25 December 1942 he was in transit to North Africa where he rejoined 600 Squadron.
On 16 March he damaged a Do217, destroyed Ju88s on 4, 21 and 24 April and was given an immediate award of the DFC. He destroyed a Ju88 on 16 September and was posted back to the UK in December 1943 to serve at HQ Fighter Command as Technical Liaison Officer. He was awarded the French Croix de Guerre, Czech Military Cross, Czech medal for Valour, Czech Medal for Merit, Commemorative medal of the Czech Foreign Army.
On 6 May 1944 he married Lilian Webb, they had two children. In 1944 Josef Hanus flew back to Prague in a single-engined Auster aircraft. He rejoined the Czech Air Force but like many ex-RAF airmen was purged by the communist authorities in May 1948. He managed to send his family to England and escape through Germany in July. Many of his friends and colleagues received very long and cruel prison terms.
Josef rejoined the RAF and served with 23 and 141 Squadrons and in 1951 went on to Flying Control. He lost his flying category in late 1954 and trained as an Equipment Officer, serving in this capacity until his retirement in 1968 as a Flight Lieutenant, retaining the rank of Squadron Leader.
It is believed that Josef was posted to RAF Henlow, hence residence in Langford, and after being discharged from the RAF worked at ICL in Letchworth or Stevenage. In 1991, the Czech government promoted him to the honorary rank of Colonel, and then in 1992 he received the honorary rank of Major-General. Josef Hanus died on 21 April 1992.
Contributed by John Shipman