Czechoslovak aviation inspectorate and air marshal Karel Janoušek, KCB

Soon after the arrival of Czechoslovak pilots from France, negotiations began on the organisation of the Czechoslovak Air Force in Great Britain. This task was entrusted to G/C Frank Beaumont on the British side on July 2, 1940, while the Czech side was represented by Brigadier General Karel Janoušek, British military attaché Col. Josef Kalla, Col. Josef Berounský and Lt. Col. Alois Kubita.

On 12 July 1940, the British Air Ministry established the Inspectorate of Czechoslovak Air Force as a liaison body between the Czechoslovak air units and the British Air Ministry (Directorate for Allied Air Cooperation), which appointed Brigadier General Karel Janoušek to head it (officially on October 15, 1940). The Inspectorate actually began to operate on October 7, 1940; formally, it was subordinate to the Ministry of National Defence, but superior to the Czechoslovak air units.

The Inspectorate of the Czechoslovak Air Force had four departments – personnel, intelligence, study and registration; later on, other departments were added, e.g. medical, training, etc.

From 1941 onwards, the coordination of all departments was managed by the Chief of the Czechoslovak Air Force Inspectorate, G/C Josef Schejbal (who had previously been the commander of the 311th Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron).

Army General l.M., RAF Air Marshal, RNDr. Karel Janousek, KCB

(October 30, 1893, Přerov – October 27, 1971, Prague)

Karel Janoušek was born into a family of a clerk of the Austro-Hungarian railways. Between 1904 and 1912 he attended the Czech Grammar School, then worked for the Kratochvíl company in Přerov for three years. On June 2, 1915, he was conscripted into the Austro-Hungarian army, graduated from the school for reserve infantry officers, and as a one-year volunteer went first to the Italian front, but soon fought on the Russian front, where he fell into captivity on July 2. He first enlisted in the Serbian army, then fought in the 1st Czechoslovak Rifle Regiment from October 1916 until the end of the war.

After returning to his homeland, he remained a soldier, graduated from the war school and, from 1924, joined the air force and underwent pilot training. He then held command positions in Aviation Regiments 3 and 1, was the head of the 3rd Department of the Ministry of National Defence, from 1933, he was commander of the Provincial Air Force in Bohemia, and, during the mobilization, served as commander of the First Army Air Force.

After his departure to the French exile he held the position of commander of the 3rd Department of the Czechoslovak Military Administration until March 15,1940, then he was in charge of the organization of the training of the Czechoslovak pilots. He left France for Great Britain before the signing of the surrender on June 18, 1940. There, he was ranked the highest officer of the Czechoslovak Air Force and immediately entered into negotiations on how to involve Czechoslovak pilots in combat activities. After the establishment of the Inspectorate of the Czechoslovak Air Force, he was appointed Inspector General of the Czechoslovak Air Force and remained in this position until the end of the war. During his time in Great Britain, he strived to create the best possible conditions for Czechoslovak pilots; he was also the chairman of the Society of Czechoslovak Technicians and Engineers, and was instrumental in the adoption of several international agreements and treaties on civil aviation.

He returned to the liberated homeland in August 1945 and became the sub-chief of the main staff for special tasks. After the February coup d'état, he was dismissed from the army, arrested on a flight abroad stage-managed by the 5th Department of Defence Intelligence. On June 17, 1948, he was sentenced by the High Military Court in Prague to 18 years of hard imprisonment; in 1950, he was sentenced to life imprisonment. He was released in 1960, acquitted in 1968, and died three years later. It was not until 1990 that he was restored to rank, and, in 1991, he was appointed to the rank of Army General In Memoriam.