Links & Further Reading
Pages about Josef Bernat
- Czech Wikipedia — Josef Bernat (airman) Summary biography (in Czech).
- rafaci.cz — his operational flights with No. 311 Squadron Day by day: all 40 operational sorties of 1941 with crews and targets (in Czech).
- valka.cz — Bernat, Josef Career, ranks, decorations (in Czech).
- Wikidata — Josef Bernat
His stories on Free Czechoslovak Air Force
- They Flew to Exile 1948 The Dakota escape from Kbely to RAF Manston on 14 June 1948, which Bernat captained.
- 311 Sqn “Never Regard Their Numbers” — Bomber Command The squadron's Bomber Command history, incl. the Wellington R1532 fire over Münster.
- 311 Sqn Air-Crew Training Crew training and the 1942 Thousand Bomber Raids.
- Wellington aircraft of 311 Sqn The squadron's aircraft and their crews.
- Escapes of Karel Stastny The fate of the third pilot of the 1948 escape.
- The Other Side Of Brookwood Post-war fates of the Czechoslovak airmen in exile — with Bernat's quotation.
Articles that mention him
- Novinky.cz — 311 Squadron's first retaliatory raid targeted Brussels Article by Alex Švamberk (2020, in Czech) with the VHÚ photograph of Bernat's crew.
- hbhistory.cz — No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Bomber Squadron With the large group photograph of airmen at East Wretham, 1941 (Bernat is no. 8; in Czech).
- Wings in Exile Virtual exhibition on the Czechoslovak airmen in the RAF.
- Evžen Jedlička: Josef Horák of Hřebeč (PDF, in Czech) A publication on a member of Bernat's crew — with photographs of “Josef Bernat's crew”.
Places of remembrance
- Winged Lion Memorial, Prague-Klárov Since November 2017 its bronze plaques carry the names of all 2,507 Czechoslovak RAF personnel — Josef Bernat among them (the unveiling on fcafa.com).
- Military Central Archives (VÚA–VHA), Prague Holds his service record and RAF “aviation card” (with a service photograph).
- His native Kojice has no plaque or memorial to Josef Bernat yet — perhaps that will change one day.
No. 311 Squadron and context
- Wikipedia — No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron RAF
- RAF Museum — 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron
- Radio Prague International — The great air escape On the RAF airmen's escapes from communist Czechoslovakia.
- London Gazette — official records of his RAF service
Books
- Steve C. Smith: No. 311 (Czechoslovak) Squadron in RAF Bomber Command 1940–1942 (2024) Book announcement on fcafa.com — a detailed history of the squadron in the very years Bernat served with it.
- Pavel Vančata: 311 Squadron RAF (MMP Books, Blue Series) Review at RAFCommands.
- Jiří Rajlich: Na nebi hrdého Albionu, part 2 (1941) (Svět křídel, 2000, ISBN 80-85280-66-3) The standard Czech work on Czechoslovak airmen in the RAF; the publisher's annotation names Bernat among the squadron's notable bomber captains.
- Collective: Vojenské osobnosti československého odboje 1939–1945 (Military History Institute Prague / AVIS, 2005) Contains his biographical entry.
- Pavel Türk, Pavel Vančata: Riders in the Sky 1945 (Eduard, 2018)
- Ivana Polley: Return to Emigration. The fates of Czechoslovak RAF members in Great Britain after WWII (dissertation, Charles University Prague, 2012, in Czech) Covers the airmen's post-1948 escapes to Britain.