Augustin Preucil was hailed as a hero. One of 'The Few' who helped to defeat the Luftwaffe in the skies over Britain in 1940, he was among the hundreds of Czech and Polish pilots who served in the Royal Air Force to free their conquered homelands from German occupation.
He died in an accident over the North Sea on 18 September, 1941, as he practised dog-fighting with a trainee Polish flier. His Hurricane fighter was seen spiralling towards the water, smoke trailing behind it. That is where Preucil's story should have ended: another brave young man lost during the war. But a chance discovery has unearthed a surprise twist: Preucil did not die that day, nor was he a hero.
He has been unmasked as a spy who betrayed the Allies for money as an agent of the Gestapo. He was the only known German agent successfully to infiltrate the RAF during the Battle of Britain.
The first clue to Preucil's double identity was uncovered by an amateur aviation historian, Richard Chapman, who, while sifting through old photographs from the German National Aviation Museum, noticed a 1941 picture of a Hurricane on display among German aircraft. The serial number was clearly visible. Chapman traced the serial number and was astonished to find the plane was Preucil's: the same one listed as having crashed into the sea, killing the pilot.
That was the trigger for Chapman and another aviation historian, Roy Nesbit, to try to solve the mystery of what really happened to Preucil. After reading documents from Britain, France, Belgium, Germany and the Czech Republic, the truth emerged: a tale of wartime espionage and betrayal.
Preucil was born in Trebsin, near the German border in what was then Czechoslovakia. He joined the Czech Air Force as a pilot and, when his country slid under Nazi control in 1938, records show that Preucil applied to join the Luftwaffe. He was rejected on racial grounds. In the summer of 1939, Preucil tried to leave for South America, but was arrested at the border by the Gestapo. That is when Preucil decided - or was forced - to become a spy.
His mission was to infiltrate an underground network of East European pilots fleeing to France and Britain. His 'escape' into Poland was staged. At the border post of Frystat a mock gunfight was laid on by German troops. Through the gunfire Preucil stumbled into Polish territory and reached Krakow. His path then followed other pilots and resistance figures from Poland to France and Britain as German armies marched across Europe.
In England he joined the RAF as a pilot but contrived to stay in rear squadrons. Chapman and Nesbit believe he deliberately flew poorly so as not to be chosen for combat. That meant he was able to collect intelligence on RAF organisation and personnel.
For more than a year Preucil was a pilot during the air battle against Hitler. But in September 1941 he decided to escape. 'We don't know why he chose then. Perhaps he was afraid of being caught or perhaps he had completed his mission,' Chapman said.
It is believed Preucil faked his death. While training with a novice pilot, he went into a dive. The trainee assumed he had crashed. In fact, Preucil pulled out of the dive just above the waves and headed for Europe. A German anti-aircraft report on the same day describes a British fighter crossing the Belgian coast at Flushing at the right time.
Preucil landed at Ortho in Belgium. He was sheltered by a farmer and members of the Belgian resistance who took him to be a crashed RAF flier. Next day Preucil walked up to some German soldiers and chatted to them. The farmer, Léon Charlier, and a resistance fighter, Armand Durand, were seized by the Gestapo and were later shot.
In Prague, Preucil collected 10,000 reichsmarks, a huge sum. He joined the Gestapo and interrogated captured Czech pilots. He knew many of them, having served with them in the RAF.
Preucil's talent for treachery found its final use in the concentration camp of Theresienstadt. Posing as a captured Czech pilot, he was used as a stool pigeon among Czech political prisoners. Again his spying is believed to have cost many of them their lives. He was captured in Prague at the war's end. In 1947, after a trial in which his betrayals were revealed, he was hanged.
Yet one secret remains. Chapman and Nesbit believe Preucil had a German handler who also joined the RAF, a Gestapo agent more senior to him. 'At the moment, I don't think we have the whole story,' Nesbit said.

Funny that was more or less what I was thinking Bjorn!

very interesting indeed:)

Fascinating.... very interesting indeed, i agree on the movie thing, maybe i could get my dad's camcorder and we can get together at my place

I dont know about that. It all depends on the film crew and writers. Apocalypse Now wasnt a true story but still it did good and was good.Unfortuanately most accurate movies these days end up in local channels and originals and not in theaters.

like i have said many a time. the best thing about pearl harbor was the headache i had walking out of the theater. the problem with movies based on historical events are hollywood tends to go for as much action as possible, and the general public really dont want to know the ins and outs of how accurate it is. a long movie telling the story of one person isnt going to draw as much money as a guy who runs round killing people in the same setting. it really is a shame that it has to happen that way but it does

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Now, Woody, normally your mildly anti-American posts 'perturb' me, but here, I gotta say you're right.  I saw Battle of Britain, and it was about 95% war and 5% love plot which I couldn't really follow anyway.  Great movie, even though it had bad effects.  Then again it was pretty old...  Anyways, is Dambusters just as good?

Considering that The Dambusters was released in 1954 (when I was a mere whippersnapper) they did a pretty good job. IMHO
It was filmed in black & white which made it possible to cut in real war footage without it being noticeable. The main advantage was that the Lancaster was still in service with the RAF so, unlike today, there were plenty of authentic examples available. The film was made with the full co-operation of the MoD. The portrayal of the characters & the way they behave & talk is reasonably accurate too, completely different to how modern actors & scriptwriters would convey it. Unfortunately, (or maybe not), it would be impossible to make that film today. If you want some idea of what it was really like I highly recommend it. If you're after modern computer graphics & effects these old classics are not for you.

PS. Somehow, those old film makers could convey the horrors of war without resorting to the graphic blood & guts violence & special effects that seem necessary in today's films. Sadly, this seems to be a lost art.