Embedded Files
This is a history of a Czech pilot Augustin Přeučil , "the one who got away", defecting to the Nazis in a Hawker Hurricane from RAF Ouston on 18th September 1941. His story first came to public prominence in a BBC News story dated 4th June 2003, [1] [10] and was subsequently amplified in several other website articles, plus comments on various forums. In researching and preparing this page on "RAF Ouston Research" all sources are identified and individually acknowledged. This author has researched and included new information, not previously published as far as can be ascertained. Much use has been made of modern Czech website sources, and this has been made possible by frequent use of 'Google Translate', but often with rather suspect or incomprehensible translations. These have been interpreted to the best of my ability, but sincere apologies are offered for any mistakes. Philip Pain, 2019 email philippain@manx.net
Augustin Přeučil in Czech military uniform. Note the correct presentation of his surname, but throughout this page the anglicised version will used, as found on many contemporary documents.
ORIGIN
Preucil was born 3rd July 1914 in the rural village of Třebsín to the south of Prague, close to the Vltava River. Then it was part of Czechoslovakia, and is now in the Czech Republic. A small village of substantial farm buildings surrounded by open fields and forests. There are no details regarding his childhood or schooling, but he was obviously gifted enough to be accepted for military pilot training circa 1932. A foretaste of his later life begins with recollections from others in Trebsin village, one being that "he was a frequent visitor to Trebsin pubs and the surrounding area". [2] While another story involves a girl, Maruška Jarušková
She was a nice quiet girl from Trebsin who helped her parents. There were the "Praguer" visitors, leaving the city for the summer, and also workers from the construction of the Štechovice dam, and it is thought that she may have found love amongst them. It is suggested that Preucil was also a suitor, but that he was rejected. Then, one day they found Maruska dead in the Vltava River, under what today is the Smetana Viewpoint. An autopsy took place at the local inn, but the results of it have not survived, and neither have details of the Police investigation. The Trebsin area was devastated when the Germans built an SS Training Ground, evicting all the residents, and destroying scores of buildings. So, the reasons for her death remain unexplained, but in Trebsin Augustin Preucil is forever associated with it, rightly or wrongly.[2]
The Czechs only had a small air force, and competition for places was fierce and highly competitive and in this he was successful. It is also the case that the standard of fighter pilot training was extremely high, and subsequent events during the 'Battle of Britain' demonstrated that Slav pilots (Czechs, and Poles) achieved more victories with less losses than their British counterparts. They were extremely effective fighters in the air, daring but not reckless, and one RAF Squadron Leader who was very reluctant to be given command of a squadron of Poles in the Battle of Britain, is on record as saying "they taught me to fight, and saved my life on more than one occasion." Not for the Slavs the 'parade ground tactics' of the RAF early in the War, rather they flew effective small and flexible tactical formations, much like the ones the Germans had learned and developed during the Spanish Civil War. [8]
So, it must be stressed that Preucil's treacherous behaviour in 1941 was the antithesis of that of his countrymen, without whose fighting skill and courage , the Battle of Britain would have probably have been lost and the RAF defeated.
Czech airmen at Chatres in France, 1940
Augustin Preucil is third from the left in the cap, as seen in the close-up
PREUCIL's WAR
1938 onwards saw the loss of different ethnic border regions of Czechoslovakia to surrounding German, Hungarian and Polish States, and on 15th March 1939 the German Army moved to occupy the remainder. The country's military was by then so weakened that there was little opposition, and a puppet State was set up under German control. A group of Czechs known as the Democrats did not co-operate in this puppet State, but they were otherwise ineffective. At the time of the German invasion Preucil was serving as a reconnaissance pilot in Air Regiment 1 of the Czechoslovak Air Force . [11] Then following the German invasion in March 1939, he immediately volunteered to join the Luftwaffe but was rejected because he was not a German national. According to a German decree of the District Office in Benešov, as of 15 September 1942, most of the municipalities in the northern part of Neveklovsko, including Preucil's native Třebsín, were to move out. The Preucil family did not avoid moving either: they had to sell up to the Germans and move to Měchenice near Prague. [12]
Preucil was a Democrat but after the occupation of Czechoslovakia and his abortive attempt to join the Luftwaffe, he then tried to escape abroad, not to a country where he could fight the Germans, but to exile in Brazil. At the border he was caught by the Germans and persuaded to become an agent of the Gestapo. It was then arranged for him to 'escape' to Poland (with the knowledge of the Germans) where he was to join the ranks of Czech Democrat pilots and report on the activities of other Czechs trying to join the Polish forces. However, at this sensitive time the Poles were wary of antagonising the Germans and they arranged for the Czechs to travel to France where they tried to join the French Air Force. The French, too were reluctant to take the Czechs until the declaration of war in September 1939. Preucil then became one of a group accepted by the Armée de l’Aire to join a fighter pilot training course at an airfield near Chartres. Among the aeroplanes he flew were the Bloch MB 151 and the Morane-Saulnier MS 406. He was not considered a good pilot and took no part in the defence of France during the German attacks in May 1940. At this time, according to eyewitness, he was exhibiting issues to do with gambling, alcohol, and debt. After the fall of France the French got the Czech Democrat airmen to England, and after security vetting Preucil was admitted to the RAF. It was the case that initially the RAF had some mistrust for the various foreign pilots who joined their ranks. Language was a problem, and they could not be fully integrated into RAF operations until this was improved. Also, they were not allowed access to the more secret aspects of systems such as Radar, but these restrictions were relaxed once they had proved their worth and loyalty during the Battle of Britain. [8]
Czech pilots at Chatres in France, 1939. Source; Military Central Archive - Military Historical Archive Prague, via newspaper "Benesovsky denik.cz", and article by Jan Nemecek, and Daniela Nemeckova [12]
Enrolled as a Sergeant in the RAFVR (Volunteer Reserve) , number 387344, he did an initial course with the other Czechs at RAF Cosford. His first posting was in September 1940 to 43 Squadron at RAF Usworth near Sunderland, which was engaged in operational training. In December, the next of a succession of brief postings took him to 605 Squadron at Tangmere. At the time, 605 was being re-equipped with the Hurricane II and it is known that the Germans were seeking information on its performance but Preucil was moved too soon to achieve anything. He was shuttled around three different Maintenance Units for testing and ferrying duties until some time in mid 1941 when he appeared back at Usworth as an instructor with 55 OTU (Operational Training Unit). There is a record that on 27 July 1941 he force landed a Hurricane in a field because of mis-handling the fuel system and he was reprimanded for carelessness. He is reported to have ‘led a sloppy life’ and been permanently in debt. From surviving evidence, it would appear that Preucil was not a good pilot. According to one of his instructors, Sergeant Rudolf Zima, "he was considered a poor pilot who was far more interested in playing cards and amusing himself than improving his knowledge and skill." It is possible that Preucil deliberately flew poorly so that he would not be chosen for combat. [5] It may also be possible that he carried out a rehearsal on 27 July 1941 when he 'force landed' a Hurricane in a field.
One source says that because he served during the period of the "Battle of Britain" Preucil qualifies as one of "The Few". However, he is not on the published list, and to qualify an airman had to undertake at least one operational sortie during the defined period.
He is said to have constantly maintained contacts with Germans, who were keen to have inside knowledge of the RAF and British air defences. Exactly how he passed information to the Gestapo remains a mystery. One assumption is that he had an unknown handler. According to Czech sources, Preucil's Gestapo handler had been operating in the UK since 1941 and somehow facilitated Preucil's defection. It is possible that his handler was in the RAF, too. [5] However the security service files on him remain sealed to this day, so it is not known who his 'handlers' were, but it is known that there were few, if any, successful German spies operating in Britain, and those that there were had already been 'turned' and were working as double agents for the British. One could take this murky world of espionage a step further, and postulate that the reason Preucil's handler has never been found, is because the handler was a double agent, already working for the British to deceive the Germans and feed them false information. In such a scenario, Preucil would just be a pawn intended to convince the Germans that the handler was working for them? Therefore, did the British conspire to defect their own aircraft?
In autumn 1941 Preucil was being encouraged to escape from England because the Germans were interested in the new version of the Hawker Hurricane, the Mk. II C with an armament of four 20 mm cannons. However, Preucil did not have access to these newer aircraft, and 55 OTU only operated the earlier Hurricane Mk.1 version. This aircraft had no intelligence value to the Germans because they had already captured and flown several examples during the fall of France and Belgium.
The harsh reality of Preucil's situation (in the RAF) was that he had access to little that was new to the Germans. He was also probably of some significant risk of being lost in an air accident, of which there were many at 55 OTU, with at least two dozen of their Hurricanes being lost to various causes during this period. In contrast, as subsequent events show, he could be more useful to the Gestapo back in Europe, using his experience to deceive and trap Czech airmen and resistance fighters.
THE WIFE
One of the strangest aspects of Preucil's story is that he married a British girl three months before he defected. It has been suggested that he did this to improve his chances of being considered for British citizenship, and that after his capture at the war's end, he quoted this marriage as a reason for leniency.
The girl in question was a domestic servant, Muriel Graham Kirby. She was born 7th August 1922 in Sunderland, and in the 1939 (war emergency) census she was living with a Kirby family at 2 Haughton Road, St Hildas Terrace, Durham. They were not her parents and the Head of the household was an Alfred W. Kirby a warehouseman. Muriel's parents were a George Kirby and his wife Margaret J. Graham. George must have died early because her mother Margaret had two subsequent marriages/ or partners, with the result that Muriel subsequently had four female siblings, all half-sisters. [4]
Muriel Kirby and Augustin Preucil married in the September quarter 1941, presumably in late June/early July. The marriage was in Sunderland, County Durham, and they are subsequently recorded as living in Hill View Gardens in Tunstall, Sunderland. This is a small cul-de-sac which still exists, mainly with modern houses. There are, however, two older large 'boarding house' type of buildings at the entrance to the close, and it is assumed that in 1941 the married couple were lodging in one of these. Tunstall is only a couple of miles from RAF Usworth, later Sunderland Airport, and now the site of the large Nissan car factory. As an Instructor staff member of 55 OTU Preucil may have been allowed to live off camp.
One can but imagine what Muriel went through in the days following 18th September 1941. Firstly, learning that her husband's aircraft was believed ditched in the North Sea, and that he had been listed as 'missing'. Then, subsequently would have come visits from the British Security Services, with aggressive questioning and searches to find out what she knew about Preucil's activities, plus the shock to her of finding out that he had defected and was still alive. In 1947 she was aware of his trial for treason in Prague, and she never believed that he was a traitor and tried to defend his reputation for the rest of her life.[12]
Muriel's subsequent story is obscure, probably for good reason as she lived until December 2006, dying in Mansfield, Nottinghamshire aged 84. There does seem to have been a second marriage for Muriel in 1952, after confirmation of Preucil's execution in April 1947. This second marriage was also in Sunderland, to a Bryan Vincent, and Muriel's death is recorded as Muriel Graham Vincent. It is not known if she had children from her second marriage, or if any of her surviving family know more about the events of 1941, or have photographs or other documents. [4]
THE AIRCRAFT
It was a Hawker Hurricane Mk.1, serial number W9147, built by the Gloster Aircraft Company in early 1941 and fitted with a Rotol propellor. It was used briefly by 43 Squadron before going to 55 OTU at RAF Usworth, Sunderland. There it became the 'personal' aircraft of the OTU's officer-in-charge, Wing Commander K.W. Gough AFC, [6] and was marked with his rank pennant under the cockpit, plus the code letters 'PA-A'. It was such a large OTU that four sets of code letters were allocated, namely 'PA', 'UW', 'EH', plus 'ZX' for the unit's various support aircraft. It was painted in the standard 'day fighter' camouflage colours of dark green and dark earth on top, with sky coloured (duck egg green) undersides. Additional 'recognition' markings consisted of a sky painted propellor spinner and tail band. The national insignia were still in the earlier bright colours of blues and reds. The aircraft would normally be armed for live firing exercises, or indeed for the off chance that it might encounter an enemy raider. The OTU's were considered to be 'reserve squadrons' that could be called into action 'in extremis', and indeed the Instructors were combat veterans whose job was to pass their skills onto a new generation of fighter pilots.
From 14th August 1941 new camouflage colours were mandated for day fighters, where the dark brown colour was to be replaced by 'ocean grey', more appropriate to the RAF's frequent actions over the sea, escorting convoys and attacking targets in Europe. In the same regulations, yellow leading edge strips were to be painted on the outer wings, as an additional aid to recognition in combat. Also the national markings were to become duller shades of brick red and dark blue, and the grey code letters were to be repainted in the sky colour.
However, a photograph of W9147 on public display in the Reich Aviation Museum in Berlin, taken post September 1941, shows that none of these '14th August" regulations had yet been applied. It can be assumed that OTU aircraft were less of a priority for repainting, and paint shortages were a problem, plus the difficulty of taking an aircraft out of a busy training schedule. A possible exception might be that yellow leading edges had been applied to W9147, as the correct 'recognition markings' would be important to help avoid 'friendly fire' incidents. However, the leading edges of the wings can not be seen in the Berlin Museum photo.
On the night of 23 / 24th November 1943 an RAF raid on Berlin destroyed much of the Aviation Museum, including W9147. The modern Berlin Museum of Technology contains a magnificent 1/72 scale diorama showing how the Reich Aviation Museum looked prior to its destruction. The 'screen shot' photo below is from an "onlycroatia" video on U-tube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_vRPY-ExiEk . The Hurricane W9147 can be seen centre front, second aircraft in;
THE DEFECTION - VERSION 1
55 OTU was such a large operation that they outgrew Usworth airfield, and therefore from 11th April 1841 until 24th April 1942 they also used nearby RAF Ouston, just to the west of Newcastle upon Tyne, as a satellite airfield. This would involve aircraft being based at Ouston for daily training exercises, and perhaps staying there for several days at a time. Most published versions of Preucil's defection state that he defected from Usworth, but in fact the RAF Form 1110 (detailing the presumed accident to the aircraft) shows that the defection took place from RAF Ouston. [7] The fact he was tasked with being at Ouston that day probably aided the defection, as any odd or out-of-character behaviour would have been less noticeable to that airfield's staff. He may have also considered the WingCo's aircraft to have been a good prize to present to the Germans, and perhaps he decided that the inexperienced Pole he was to fly with was unlikely to cause him a problem.
Thus, on 18th September 1941 Preucil had been allocated to fly the WingCo's aircraft W9147. This was probably just a coincidence, and Wing Commander Gough would only fly 'his' aircraft occasionally as he would have many other ground based duties. At other times W9147 would be available for any Instructor to fly, as required. So Preucil was at Ouston together with a Polish trainee pilot in a second Hurricane. They took off for some 'dog fighting' air combat training, out over the North Sea. Later the Polish pilot returned alone, and reported that he had last seen W9147 diving seawards, apparently out of control, before he lost sight of it. The subsequent RAF Inquiry concluded that engine failure was a likely cause of the accident, and after a search Preucil was listed as 'missing'. Sadly such accidents were then a common occurrence, and the Merlin engines in Hurricanes and Spitfires were prone to cut-out during high-g manoeuvres.
That evening Preucil landed the Hurricane on a Belgian farm in the village of Ortho near Bastogne in the Ardennes. The farmer gave the pilot civilian clothes and hid him in the woods. The next day Preucil emerged from his hiding place and appeared to fraternise with a German searching party. As a result, the farmer and another Belgian were immediately taken and shot, the farmer’s wife and another man imprisoned. The Hurricane was recovered and placed on public display in the Reich Aviation Museum in Berlin. It can be seen in the Berlin Museum photo that the Hurricane's propellor has been badly damaged in the landing, and presumably the engine would have been shock-loaded when the propellor hit the ground. The engine cowling panels are 'sprung' and distorted, and the undercarraige doors are damaged.
This map shows the route for a direct flight from the North East coast near RAF Ouston, and the village of Ortho in the Belgian Ardennes. The direct line distance measures 450 miles approximately. The quoted normal range [9] for a Hurricane Mk.1 (with a Rotol propellor) is 425 miles in still air, assuming full tanks at the start. So Preucil must have been out of fuel when he decided to land. This information gives rise to some puzzling questions;
A flight path down the east coast of England was risky as there was a high chance of the aircraft being spotted?
The flight path does not take a shorter route that would have taken it into German territory, or occupied Dutch territory?
So where was Preucil trying to get to by taking such a direct route?
Every mile that he overflew Occupied Territory increased the chance of his aircraft being intercepted by the Luftwaffe or shot down by Flak?
If he was trying to get to Switzerland (to be safely interned) he was on the direct track, but never had enough fuel to make it?
The weather must have been a factor in his decision to defect that day. Thursday 18th September 1941 was a classic mid-September day, with high pressure sat over south east England, light and variable winds, cool early and late, warm midday, mist or local fog early, and clear or hazy sun much of the day. The actual Met Office charts are available on-line, but for obvious reasons they contain no information for Occupied Europe. However, such high pressure conditions could have led to patchy fog in coastal areas, causing Preucil to divert away from a direct route to Germany. But such a scenario does not seem feasible because only a direct line flight path would have got him as far as he did, whereas any 'dog leg' route searching for gaps in fog would have led to him running out of fuel at an earlier point. So, it does seem that his chosen route was deliberate, unless he was way off what he thought was his intended course. This seems unlikely in good sunny and calm air conditions, but may be a possibility if there was extensive mist and he couldn't find any landmarks. Also, he may not have had a map to help him navigate, given the difficulty of "booking out" a map of Europe when he was supposed to be going for a local flight from RAF Ouston.
His apparently direct route begs other questions. For example, would it have been possible for him re-fuel somewhere en-route? This might not be as far fetched as it seems, because earlier on in the RAF he had been a ferry pilot, moving aircraft around the country. So, he would know where to land in England for fuel, and he would have been familiar with procedures and convincing in his explanations. Also, the RAF thought that his aircraft had crashed in the North Sea off Tyneside, so they would not have been alerting the rest of England to look out for him. However, the fact of him landing where he did at Ortho in Belgium seems evidence enough that he completed the flight in one go.
Another possibility is that the Germans knew he was coming. This would account for him crossing into occupied territory and flying well inland without being intercepted and shot down. However, it does not explain why he did not land earlier, as there would have been many opportunities to do so, without ending up dangerously low on fuel over hilly and forested terrain.
THE DEFECTION - VERSION 2
A further search of the internet produced, rather unexpectedly, a different version of events. This is on "Prabook.com" [11] but without any attribution for the source of the information. This version does, however, answer many of the doubts and questions that surround Version 1 (above).
Quite simply the Prabook.com article states that Preucil landed the Hurricane at Vlissingen Airfield in the Netherlands. The article also gives the date as "19th September 1941" which must be wrong. Vlissingen was a pre-war Dutch civil airfield, taken over by the Germans and improved for fighter operations. It was just to the North of Vlissingen City on the former island of Walcheren with a strategic location between the Scheldt river and the North Sea.
For a direct flight between RAF Ouston and Vlissingen, the distance is 320 miles, comfortably within the 425 mile range of a Hurricane Mk.1. Vlissingen is also a coastal airfield, and it would be easy to identify and find from the air. So, if this was indeed where Preucil landed, the Germans must have known that he was coming, and he must have been told that it was his target and destination for a safe landing, without fear of interception. This all suggests that his defection was carefully planned, and it was not some spur of the moment decision on his part.
However, there is also very substantial evidence that Preucil did land near the Belgian village of Ortho, on the evening of 18th September 1941. This resulting in Preucil's betrayal of two Belgians, and their death. So this new scenario now becomes one where Preucil makes a pre-arranged landing at Vlissingen; his Hurricane is quickly re-fuelled; he takes off and more or less resumes his original flight path, heading down into Belgium; the German defences under strict orders to leave him alone; he then lands that evening near Ortho, at a point where his (Version 1) flight path would have had him run out of fuel. To complete the ruse, and make it appear that it was some sort of clumsy defection all Preucil's own doing, there then follows the betrayal and death of the Belgians in a manner that is sure to attract attention.
This Version 2 map shows the revised flight path from RAF Ouston to Vlissingen, with the Belgian village of Ortho on a continuing line to the south-east. With this version
The Hurricane has sufficient fuel to reach Vlissingen, with reserves in hand
It also has sufficient fuel to fly further away from the East coast of England, with less chance of being detected
The Hurricane does not overfly occupied, and well defended, territory, its arrival is expected at Vlissingen
The Hurricane could refuel within 15 minutes, and then continue on the same track towards Ortho, or thereabouts
The German defences would now know it was 'theirs', and know its track, time overhead, and destination
The Hurricane would now have sufficient fuel to find a safe landing place, whilst also giving the impression of having reached the limit of its original flight path
Whether or not it was a deliberate part of the plan to deceive the Belgians into betraying themselves, is not obvious. But given the careful planning and deception that Version 2 suggests, it seems possible that the Gestapo wanted to send a clear and brutal message to civilians that they should not assist allied airmen. Also, by adding an act of betrayal to the message, doubt would be sowed in civilian minds that any airman might be a Gestapo trick designed to trap them.
Which ever of the two scenarios was actually the case, it does seem that the Germans were pleased with Preucil's arrival, as he was paid a reward or bounty of 10,000 Reichmarks.
A memorial in Belgium to the villagers of Ortho who were betrayed by Preucil after he landed. Source; Daniela Nemeckova [12]
A street in Ortho has been renamed in honour of one of his victims, Durand [12]
THE GESTAPO
Preucil was sent to Prague where he began work with the Gestapo. At first this was largely administrative, producing lists of Czechs fighting against the Germans, but he often appeared as a smartly dressed civilian at the interrogation of shot down Czech airmen. He made no attempt to conceal his identity, openly reminding them of occasions when they had met in RAF service and sketching out the background of the prisoner’s squadron, home base, CO’s name, etc. Later, Preucil was inserted into an internment camp which held Czech civilians and captured partisans and several people lost their lives as a result of his deception.
Kpt. František Burda, was a pilot from the RAF's 310 (Czechoslovak) Squadron, who had served with Preucil as his superior in France. Burda was shot down on 27th February 1943 during an operation at Brest, and after capture was transferred to the Gestapo in Prague at the beginning of August 1944. He described how, at Petchek's Palace, the door opened and Preucil walked into the room, recognised him immediately and offered him a cigarette. [12]
Another of Preucil's victims was painter Josef Hurt of Měchenice, arrested on 2 March 1945 for listening to foreign radio, who died in the Small Fortress in Terezin. Even Preucil was imprisoned in the Small Fortress, a Prague Gestapo prison. However, he did not go there for punishment, but to snoop on fellow prisoners for the Nazis and seek their confidence. He would tell them how he had been shot down and captured, and in this his knowledge of flying for Poland, France and England was perfect. He came to Terezín on 3 November 1943 and was placed in a cell with Czech resistance fighters, including one of the leading personalities of Czech domestic resistance Vladimír Krajina. Preucil managed to get valuable information regarding the message the Czechoslovak government in exile delivered to the domestic resistance, whose leader Václav Pinc subsequently paid for with his life. Eventually, however, the prisoners learned of his true identity when they accidentally found a message from Preucil, addressed to the Gestapo. At the end of April 1944, Preucil's 'imprisonment' in the Small Fortress ended. [12]
Preucil was then assigned to the Social Security Office in Prague from 20th June 1944. However, this job was a mere cover for the work of a Gestapo informant. The Gestapo had received from the Security Service (Sicherheistdienst) reports that former Czech officers and their family members were paid support by the pension institution. Preucil was to find out if the report was based on truth. [12]
He was also sent into the Gestapo prison Theresienstadt and spied on American prisoners of war. [11]
Even after returning from the Small Fortress at Terezín, Preucil continued to deceive, and to gain the trust of the people he used his 'imprisonment' by the Nazis in Terezin, as proof that he had to be a good Czech and a patriot. Another victim was the barber Josef Vitejček from Netvořice, who was sentenced to two years in prison for listening to foreign radio. [12]
A Czech website gives more detail of these activities; that Preucil continued working as a collaborator of the Gestapo and very actively participated in questioning Czech pilots in captivity, parachutists, and so on. That he also gave the Germans detailed intelligence and information about the RAF in England. Two names of Czech fliers are quoted, namely V. Bufka and P. Uruba, victims of his treachery with the Gestapo. Also, named is the parachutist Charles Curd whose loss caused the Czechoslovak foreign resistance probably the hardest blows. [3]
The Czech website concludes by saying (translation) "I think it is an honour to the Czechoslovak resistance movement that such monstrosities as Preucil were only a negligible fraction compared to the amount of honest and heroic patriots who voluntarily fought and died for universally accepted human values!" [3]
THE END
When the war ended he made no attempt to escape or hide. He was arrested on 19 May 1945 and was prosecuted as a former member of the Czechoslovak army in England for committing the crime of defection and the crime of military betrayal. In mid-October 1945, however, the Military Field Court referred the matter to the Prague Extraordinary People's Court. [12] The charge was principally as a traitor to his country. His betrayal of the Belgian farmers did not help his case but it seems that his spying against the British was incidental. Preucil did claim that he had married an English girl during his time in the RAF, possibly to try to claim British citizenship, but apparently at the time the Czech authorities could not confirm that there was such a marriage. Nor was his German handler ever traced, but one source states that there was believed to be a senior officer in the RAF who was working for the Germans.
It is to the great credit of the Czech authorities that they appear to have done their utmost to ensure that Preucil received a fair trial, and he was given every opportunity to defend himself, gather evidence, and question the witnesses against him. His approach seemed to be one of introducing 'red herrings', and trying to sow doubt and confusion. The trial Judges were particularly careful to fully justify their decision to apply the death penalty, and that related only to the charge of being a traitor. [12]
During the trial, Preučil's medical condition was also examined, ie whether he was sane at the time of committing all his crimes and responsible for his actions. Expert opinion confirmed his sanity and became the last important evidence for the trial. [12]
In England his wife Muriel was in shock at the news from Czechoslovakia that her husband was a traitor. She never believed it and until her death in 2005, she believed in her husband's innocence and fought for his reputation. Preucil's parents, too, tried to liberate him, while having to deal with the difficult situation of their return to Trebsin; the economy there had been almost completely destroyed by the Germans during the occupation. [12]
After November 1989, when the topic of Western pilots could be freely researched and published again, there was a re-assessment by The Czechoslovak Airmen Association in London, which had a memorial plaque to fallen pilots during World War II. They then donated this plaque to the Czechoslovak state, where it is displayed in the Military Museum in Prague from 1992. In one place there is a gap between the names of the fallen and this is where the name of Preucil was removed. [12]
He was hanged on 14 April 1947, at the courtyard of the Pankrác prison at 21.50. hours, following which his body was released to his father for private burial. [12]
Augustin Preucil in 1947. Source; Department of Documentation and History of the Czech Republic; via newspaper "Benesovsky denik.cz", and article by Jan Nemecek, and Daniela Nemeckova [12]
Postscript
As the author of this history of Augustin Preucil, my personal conclusion is that he was probably a psychopath, in the modern accepted meaning of the condition. He exhibited little or no remorse for the effect of his action on others, and he appeared entirely self-centred. He could also probably be charming, bold, disinhibited, and egotistical. His actions and the choices he made, as described in this history, seem to be largely opportunistic and without any consistent 'grand plan' or deep thought as to the consequences.
References
Foremost, but not directly used in the preparation of this history, is a Czech Book by Jan Nemecek, and Daniela Nemeckova; published 2015. The title translates literally as "Prototype Betrayal"
[1] Whilst working in Germany for "The Aeroplane" aviation magazine, Richard Chapman came across a photograph of a Hawker Hurricane, taken in a Berlin museum during the war. Chapman co-operated with Roy Conyers Nesbit, ex-RAF Navigator, researcher and author, and a remarkable story emerged.
[2] Lecture by PhDr. Jan Nemecek, DrSc., Institute of History of the CAS and Mgr. Daniela Nemecková, authors of a life story full of betrayal of Agustin Preucil.
[3] valka.cz website article https://www.valka.cz/Preucil-Augustin-t41984#165134
Also Linked from: https://www.valka.cz/topic/postview/504195
[4] Ancestry.com via Bill Bevan and Carolyn Johnston
[5] The Nazi Intelligence Matrix: The Gestapo outside Germany, 1939-1945 CLAIRE M. HUBBARD-HALL
Also referencing Aeroplane Monthly (June 2003), p. 23.
AMCR, 302-110-5/103-105, Post war investigation of Augustin Preucil led by the Czech police.
Ibid., 305-109-5/84-92.
State County Archives, Prague (Státní oblastní archive v Praze), Ls 9/46, Trial of Augustin Preucil.
Global War Studies 12 (1) 2015 ¦ 35
[6] 'Ian94avenge' on http://www.rafcommands.com/forum/showthread.php?15548-Hurricane-W9147-PA-A
[7] Jim Corbett, local aviation historian, North East England, also on [6]
[8] RAF Historical Society Journal No.49, 2010 article ‘REPEAT, PLEASE!’ POLES AND CZECHOSLOVAKS IN THE BATTLE OF BRITAIN by Peter Devitt
[9] Hawker Aircraft since 1920, Frances K. Mason, 1991 Putman
[10] BBC News website article, 4 June 2013 " Stolen Hurricane flies into history books" http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/2962494.stm
[11] Prabook.com website article; https://prabook.com/web/augustin.preucil/2610786
[12] The Story of Fatal Treason 3: Augustin Preucil; 30 February 2016; HTTPS://BENESOVSKY.DENIK.CZ/KULTURA_REGION/PRIBEH-OSUDOVE-ZRADY-1-AUGUSTIN-PREUCIL-20160324-J43T-04V5.HTML
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