Pomník Otto Jebáček

The Otto Jebáček Memorial stands in a small park on Komenského street in Kuřim, next to the local elementary school, honouring a Czechoslovak RAF airman who was lost over the Bay of Biscay during the Second World War.

Who was Otto Jebáček?

Otto Jebáček was born on 10 June 1918 in Kuřim. After Czechoslovakia's fall and the outbreak of war, he joined the Czechoslovak forces being organised in the West, enlisting with the Czechoslovak units in England on 1 August 1940. Rather than serve with the infantry, he volunteered for the air force and trained as a wireless operator and air gunner.

What was his path through the RAF?

His wireless-operator training began in November 1941 and was completed on 2 February 1942, when he received service number 787844. That same day he was posted to No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF, flying as a wireless operator and air gunner until his death in September 1942. For his service he was awarded four decorations, both Czechoslovak and British.

How did Otto Jebáček die?

On 15 September 1942, Jebáček took part in an operational flight aboard a Vickers Wellington bomber, serial HD892, coded KX-Y. The aircraft went missing during the mission over the Bay of Biscay, more than 200 kilometres southwest of Brest, France. The most likely cause of its loss is thought to have been an attack by a German fighter aircraft. The entire crew, Jebáček included, was listed as missing. In 1991, decades after the war, he was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel of the air force.

When and why was the memorial in Kuřim built?

The memorial was unveiled in 1995 in the park beside the local elementary school, in the town where Jebáček was born and which he considered home before the war. Commemorating a local airman who died flying with the RAF forms part of a broader effort to restore the memory of Czechoslovak airmen who served in the West — men who, after 1948, were largely ignored or actively persecuted for decades under Czechoslovakia's communist government.

What does the inscription say?

The memorial bears the inscription: "Rotný Otto Jebáček *10.6.1918 +15.9.1942 letec 311. čs. bombardovací perutě RAF, občan Kuřimi" (Sergeant Otto Jebáček, airman of No. 311 Czechoslovak Bomber Squadron RAF, citizen of Kuřim). A separate line records his posthumous promotion: "podplukovník letectva in memoriam Otto Jebáček" (Lieutenant Colonel of the air force, in memoriam, Otto Jebáček).

How do you get to the memorial?

The memorial sits in the centre of Kuřim, a town roughly fifteen kilometres northwest of Brno, on Komenského street, in a small park next to the elementary school. It's an easy stop to combine with a short walk through central Kuřim, which also holds other local war memorials dedicated to the victims of both world wars and to Red Army soldiers.

Frequently asked questions

Who was Otto Jebáček? A native of Kuřim who served as a wireless operator and air gunner with No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF during the Second World War.

When and how did he die? He went missing on 15 September 1942 during an operational flight over the Bay of Biscay aboard a Wellington bomber, most likely shot down by a German fighter.

When was the memorial unveiled? In 1995, in the park next to the elementary school in Kuřim, his home town.

Did Jebáček receive any honours? Yes — he was awarded four Czechoslovak and British medals for his service, and in 1991 he was posthumously promoted to lieutenant colonel.