Josef Janeba

Pilot Officer Josef Janeba — Second Czechoslovak Airman

312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron

The second Czechoslovak airman to be buried at St. Hilary, Killay was Pilot Officer Josef Janeba, also of No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, RAF. He was killed on 2^nd May 1942, aged 27.

Early Life and Training

Josef Janeba

Josef was born in 1915 in the village of Blesno, though he grew up in the nearby town of Hradec Králové in eastern Bohemia. After completing his education, he worked as a machine fitter at the Prokop Company. Aviation soon became his passion, and he trained with the East Bohemian Aeroclub, preparing himself for military flying.

In 1936, Josef was admitted to the School of Aviation at Prostějov. After graduating from training, he was posted to the 4th Air Regiment, serving with the 34th Squadron based at Hradec Králové. In September 1938, during the tense months of the Munich Crisis, Josef qualified as a field pilot.

The following year, after the German occupation of Bohemia and Moravia in March 1939, Josef — like many of his fellow airmen — refused to serve under Nazi rule. He escaped across the border into Poland and then traveled onward to France.

Escape to France and the RAF

On 10^th September 1939, Josef reported for duty at the French airfield at Chartres, and within a week, he was rated as an operational pilot. During the brief but intense campaign of 1940, he claimed one and a half enemy aircraft destroyed, while twice coming under fire.

When France fell in June 1940, Josef escaped with his squadron, first to Algiers, then Oran, and onward to Casablanca, where he boarded a ship bound for Britain via Gibraltar. By August 1940, he was accepted into the Royal Air Force.

The following month, he joined No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, which had just been formed at Duxford. Later, he was posted to RAF Upavon, where he served as an instructor at a school for flying teachers. At Christmas 1941, he was transferred to No. 9 Squadron as a flying instructor, before returning in March 1942 to front-line service with 312 Squadron.

Death and Burial

Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb

On 2^nd May 1942, Josef was taking off from RAF Fairwood Common in a Supermarine Spitfire Mk Vb when tragedy struck. His aircraft collided with another Spitfire flown by Sergeant František Vaculík, clipping its tail and causing it to shear off. Josef’s aircraft spiralled out of control and crashed into Kilvrough Farmyard, Parkmill, near Swansea.

Josef attempted to bail out but was too low for his parachute to deploy, and he was killed instantly. Vaculík, though badly injured, survived the crash. An investigation later concluded that Josef had been responsible for the collision.

Josef Janeba
St. Hillary Church, Killay
credit - findagrave

Pilot Officer Josef Janeba was laid to rest at St. Hilary, Killay, alongside his comrade Flight Lieutenant Rudolf Roháček, who had died only days earlier.

Legacy of František Vaculík

František Vaculík recovered from his injuries and returned to service. In April 1943, he transferred to No. 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron before volunteering for service in the Soviet Union. There, he became one of the founding members of the 1st Czechoslovak Independent Fighter Regiment and later took part in the Slovak National Uprising of 1944.

František Vaculík

On 20^th September 1944, while flying a Lavochkin La-5FN, he was shot down by German anti-aircraft fire. Buried without identification, he was recorded as an unknown Soviet pilot in a local cemetery. After the war, his brother located his grave, and in September 1945, Vaculík was reburied with full honours in his native Buchlovice.

Legacy

Josef Janeba’s story mirrors that of many Czechoslovak airmen — men who fled occupation, fought in France, and then carried their struggle to Britain. His death, so soon after his return to combat flying, underscores the risks faced daily by wartime pilots, even outside of battle.

At St. Hilary, he rests beside comrades from across the world, a Czech airman remembered in a quiet Welsh churchyard far from home.

The loss of Flight Lieutenant Rudolf Roháček on 27 April 1942, followed only days later by the death of Pilot Officer Josef Janeba on 2 May, was a devastating blow to No. 312 (Czechoslovak) Squadron. Both men had risked everything to escape occupied Europe and continue the fight, only to lose their lives while serving in Wales. Their graves stand side by side at St. Hilary, a poignant reminder of the price paid by the exiled Czech pilots who refused to surrender their country’s freedom.