Borovec, Rudolf

Rudolf Borovec was born and raised in Pardubice. He was the only son of Rudolf Borovec Sr. and his wife Aloysia. He graduated from the municipal and burgher school and subsequently studied engineering and construction at the local industrial school. After successfully completing his studies he worked as a mechanical engineer.
In 1936, the Ministry of Defence of the Czechoslovak Republic called for a thousand pilots for the republic. This call was aimed at annual retraining of civilian and military pilots and was implemented in Pardubice by the East Bohemian Aero Club. Rudolf Borovec heard the call and together with other young daredevils, the well-known pilot and designer Jaroslav Lonek took him under his wing at the aeroclub.
Later, Borovec went to military service in Brno, where he trained as a reserve officer (sergeant - aspirant). When the war was imminent, in August 1939, like many others, he fled to Poland and continued by boat to the French port of Calais. In France he briefly joined the Foreign Legion and then underwent further pilot training in the ranks of the French Air Force. He also underwent a course for deck gunners. However, the war progressed so quickly that he did not actively participate in the fighting and after the defeat of France he continued on to England. In July 1940, he joined the RAF and rotated through several squadrons. Early on, he was mistakenly assigned to train on the outdated Fairey Battle aircraft, which had the unflattering nickname "Flying Coffin". However, after a week the mistake was cleared up and Borovec was assigned to operational fighter training (No.6 OTU Sutton Bridge). After five months of training he joined the British fighter 601st Squadron and then changed his station several more times during the year. No. 2 AOS Million, No. 9 AGS Llandwrog, No. 55 OTU Ushworth, the British 19th Squadron and finally the RAF's 310th Fighter Squadron. During this tour he was also promoted three times to Air Force Reserve Lieutenant. Combat actions include fighter escort of Allied bombers, patrolling over shipping convoys, air cover during the Dieppe landings and the destruction and damage of locomotives in France.
In England he flew, among others, the Spitfire Mk.Vc serial number AR501. If you google "Spitfire AR501", you'll get lots of beautiful photos of this machine, which is still flying today. Borovec flew this aircraft with the 310th Czechoslovak Fighter Squadron. A frequent pilot of this NN-A marked machine was Unit Commander S/Ldr. Frantisek Dolezal. Also P/O Karel Zouhar, S/Ldr. Emil Foit, W/O František Trejtnar and others. After the war, this particular aircraft took part in the filming of the Battle of Britain film and is currently flying with the marking DU-E, which commemorates its assignment to the Czechoslovak fighter 312 Squadron. The history of this particular fighter is well documented in the book Preserved Spitfires by Zdeněk Hurt.
Later, the Czechoslovak government-in-exile was looking for volunteer pilots to form a combat group in the Soviet Union. Borovec was one of the 21 volunteers who answered the call and made it all the way to Moscow via Egypt, Iraq and Syria, where he later received training on Soviet aircraft. The 1st Czechoslovak Independent Fighter Aviation Regiment was formed there, commanded by the legendary Sgt. František Fajtl, DFC. After countless requests to join the fighting, the group was finally allowed to support the Slovak National Uprising. The battle group returned to Czechoslovakia, having previously reconnoitred, and on 17 September 1944 flew from the USSR deep into the enemy rear, as far as Zolná Airport (near Zvolen). During the landing of Rudolf Borovets, his aircraft Lavochkin La-5FN of fuselage number 95 was damaged. The regiment successfully operated for six weeks virtually surrounded, which was generally a very unusual and unique way of fighting. In October, the entire regiment flew to Tri Duby airfield, as the area at Zolna was already muddy and unusable. Lieutenant Rudolf Borovec served as the first officer of the 2nd Squadron during this deployment.
Pilots of the regiment supported the rebel ground forces or, for example, raided the airfield in Piešt'any, where they destroyed and damaged dozens of German aircraft on the ground. By this date, however, the regiment's pilots had managed to complete 573 combat sorties lasting 376 operational hours. As a result, the members had 9 confirmed and 10 probable kills, dozens of trucks and cars destroyed, 11 (confirmed) aircraft destroyed on the ground, 5 artillery and mortar batteries, two tanks and three locomotives. On the day of the evacuation, 11 operational aircraft took off, and Borovec's was originally among them. However, the machine of his superior František Chábery got stuck in a bomb crater during take-off and had to be destroyed. The regimental commander ordered Lt. Chábera was ordered to fly away in Borovec's plane (by that time already a lieutenant in the air force reserve) and Borovec stayed in Slovakia, where he joined the partisans heading to the mountains.
Unfortunately, his guerrilla warfare was short-lived.On 9 November 1944, in the area between the settlements of Železno (48°57'12.35 "N 19°23'34.96 "E) and Magurka (48°56'39.98 "N 19°25'52.53 "E), his group came across an abandoned radio car. In an attempt to seize some needed radio equipment, Borovec fell into a German ambush and was killed in the ensuing firefight.
On December 1, 1945, his remains were exhumed and his body was subsequently transported back to Pardubice, where it was placed in the family tomb. His former commander František Fajtl also spoke at the commemoration ceremony on Smetana Square. His grave can be found in the cemetery in Pardubice (coordinates 50°01'11.04 "N 15°46'51.51 "E), where he is buried together with his father and mother. We dedicate at least a short paragraph to his parents.
Rudolf Borovec Sr. worked as a clerk for the railways and, after his son went abroad, established cooperation with the military resistance known as Obrana Naroda. However, the Pardubice Gestapo soon came on the trail of this group, and in February 1940 Rudolf Borovec Sr. was one of ten arrested and awaited deportation to the concentration camp Auschwitz, where he died on 6 June 1942. His name can be found on a memorial plaque at Pardubice railway station, where he is mentioned among many other railway employees who died for their country.
Aloisie Borovcová was arrested on 17 September 1942 and deported to the internment camp in Svatobořice, together with other women whose sons or husbands had fought abroad. She survives the war and contacts her son's battle buddies in an attempt to bring his remains back home, which is not entirely easy. Mrs. Aloisie dies in January 1960.
For his combat activities, Lieutenant Rudolf Borovec received the Čs. War Cross 1939, Medal for valour in the face of the enemy, Commemorative Medal of the Czechoslovak Army Abroad with the labels of France, Great Britain and the USSR and Order of the Slovak National Uprising 1st Class in memoriam. By order of the Minister of Defence of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic, he received an extraordinary promotion to colonel in memoriam on 1 June 1991.



Published courtesy of the Aviation Museum Ing. Jan Kaspar, Pardubice - www.facebook.com

Karel Tůma
Preserved Spitfires - Zdeněk Hurt (ISBN 978-80-7573-032-9)
Airmen of Pardubice in the RAF - Jan Rail, Vítek Formánek, Eva Csölleová (ISBN 978-80-260-2551-1)
News of the Club of Friends of Pardubice (June 2005) - PaedDr. František Dosoudil
Photo: Rudolf Borovec in England at the Hawker Hurricane. Collection Jaroslav Popelka (Thanks again!)
Aviation Museum Ing. Jan Kaspar, Pardubice - www.facebook.com