This Is Your Life: Jo Capka

Jo CAPKA DFM (1915-1973)

THIS IS YOUR LIFE - Josef Capka, retired Czech pilot, was surprised by Eamonn Andrews at the BBC Television Theatre, having been brought to the theatre by the writer Kendall McDonald.

Jo was a Captain in the Czechoslovak Air Force who escaped to Poland following the Nazi invasion of Czechoslovakia in 1939. When war broke out, he joined the French Air Force after spending time with the French Foreign Legion. When France was overrun, Jo fled to Bordeaux and joined a group of Polish airmen on a ship bound for England, where he joined the RAF and was posted to the newly formed 311 (Czech) Bomber Squadron. He flew 56 bombing missions in Wellingtons and was awarded the Distinguished Flying Medal.

Jo later switched to fighters but was severely injured in June 1944 when his Mosquito was machine-gunned while returning from a patrol over Normandy. He was treated by the pioneering plastic surgeon Sir Archibald McIndoe, becoming a member of his 'guinea pig club'. After the war, Jo returned to Czechoslovakia with his wife, but following the communist coup in 1948, he was arrested as a traitor. He spent seven and a half years in prison before finally being permitted to return to his wife in England in May 1957.

programme details...

Edition No: 66
Subject No: 66
Broadcast live: Mon 29 Sep 1958
Broadcast time: 7.30-8.05pm
Venue: BBC Television Theatre
Series: 4
Edition: 1

on the guest list...

Gerry Douglas
Karel Trojacek
Col Lewandowski
Mrs Savage
Valerie Savage
Rhoda - wife
Sqn Ldr Willie Williams
Mrs Buckee
Ondrej Spacek
former RAF colleagues
Flt Lt Alois Sedivy

production team...

Researchers: Ken Smith, Bill Nolan
Writers: Ken Smith, Bill Nolan
Animated captions: Alfred Wurmser
Director: unknown
Producer: T Leslie Jackson

related page...

Military Life

saluting the armed forces

Photographs of Jo Capka This Is Your Life

Series 4 subjects