Vladimír NEDVĚD, youngest commander of the 311 (Czechoslovak) Bomber Squadron. For his attempt to save his comrade in arms, he received The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire - MBE. This is how he recalls the crash of his airplane on the night between the 16th and 17th of 1940 after the start of an attack on Mannheim: "... I escaped from the fiery cage of the shattered plane ... I remembered Jarda TOUL in the rear ... the rear turret was turned to the side, but it was closed ... I found Jarda TOUL curled behind the guns ... “Jarda, you´ve got to get out fast, the whole machine is on fire” ... I tried to lift him. It wasn’t possible ... the entire front of the plane was a single flame... only about four meters remained. Terrified by this distance, which was was slowly decreasing, and aware of what awaited Jarda ... I once again grabbed hold of his jumpsuit ... he could not be allowed to burn to death ... we jointly lifted his body ... but it didn’t go any further. The fire kept coming closer and suddenly - there was a thundering explosion. Only now did I realize that there were bombs in the plane...the fire was getting dangerously close...Jarda had both legs stuck under the seat and the entire weight of the tail was lying on them. I realized that I couldn’t lift the entire back end....I knew what awaited him...burning alive. There was a new loud explosion, the dazzling white flame of burning aluminum mingled with the tongues of flame of an oil bomb ... I leaned toward Jarda “I can’t get your legs free,” I said to him, …“Please, ...stay with me,” he said quietly. He was still fully conscious, not injured anywhere, only on his legs. I stayed with him at the turret. “I have a revolver in my pocket – shoot me”. Those were his last words to me. Then came the hardest decision of my life. What to do? …I searched for the weapon in his pockets, but couldn’t find it ... the third bomb exploded. The shock wave hit me...I flew off about five meters...” Jaromír TOUL was later took out, but died of burns.

After the communist takeover, Vladimír NEDVĚD, MBE hijacked a plane of Československé aerolinie and flew abroad. He rejoined the RAF and served until 1955.

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