The Crash
From Epstein to Elston The Journey to England I Stuck to Flying Like a Limpet The Return after the War My Parents during the War The Arrival to England Jewishness The Difference between Czechs and Germans“I violated one of the basic rules of a pilot and that was that I didn’t voluntarily have my plane inspected. I was trying out one master and it caught fire. The flames came out right by my left leg. I was about 2000 meters high and I told myself that it was enough, that I would rather be on my way out and I wanted to open the cockpit. It got stuck half way through and the flames went up in my face. I didn’t have any other option than to let the steering go and try to open the cockpit with both hands. And I was trying to get out with the flames licking my face. By that time the plane was already flying headlong towards the ground. I finally managed to dislocate both the cabin top and my shoulder and jump out at approximately 300 meters. Two pilot officers saw the crash and reckoned it was 300 meters. I got out of the plane but before I could pull of the parachute the plane exploded, there wasn’t much time for anything. Here at Ruzyň you get out of the plane much slower. I couldn’t move with my shoulder because it was dislocated and I was burnt. My legs were burnt, my face was burnt and my trousers were burnt but those I could easily replace. And before the parachute could open properly I flew into high voltage wires. The God seemed to return from a lunch break and looked down at me and said: ‘I think I will help this guy.’ Because I stopped about a meter above the ground. And there was a guy on the field and he came when he saw me. I showed him with my burned lips to unlock the parachute and he pushed the button and I fell on the ground and then kicked me again and again, because he thought that I was German. He didn’t like Germans, I didn’t like them either…”
