Maurice Halna du Fretay and its Zlin XII

[Bertrand H]

Hi,

Maurice Halna du Fretay, KIA with n°174 sqdn during Jubilee in August 1942 landed in UK on 15 november 1940 with a Zlin XII that he took off from a private garden in Britain.

He exists a photo of this Zlin XII with code XH-194 on engine.

Does anybody know if it is a "RAF code" or "Zlin" code.

He landed at Dorchester with a passenger of "Légion étrangère". I have not his name.

TIA

Bertrand

[CZ_RAF]

Hi Bertrand,

very interesting post but I am afraid I will be not able to help much.
Code XH-194 seems to me quite strange for the RAF code and also the serial series XHxxx was not in use at the time.
So maybe it can be original code from France?
BTW it is possible to see the photo you have mentioned?
I can ask some of my Czech colleagues who are experts on aircraft manufactured in Czechoslovak.

Pavel

[Bertrand H]

Thanks for the reply and forget my request , it is the original marking from the factory i.e. XII-194 and the 194th on 250 Zlin XII built (and not XH !)

Bertrand

[COL BRUGGY]

Hello,

Not sure how much credence you can place on this statement, whatever:

15th November 1940

A surprise visitor at Stinsford, Dorset, was a French two-seat aircraft F-AROD, which force-landed at 15.10 hours. It contained two escaping Frenchmen, Maurice Halno du Fretay, the pilot, and his passenger Albert Platz.

See:
Battle of Britain The Forgotten Months November and December 1940
Foreman,John.
New Malden:Air Research Publications,1988.
p.97

Col.

[Bertrand H]

Thanks col. !

Platz is a belgian

http://www.francaislibres.net/liste/...hp?index=91189

Bertrand

[madaroums]

Hello
I can not be the F-AROD because this registration belongs to the Morane Saulnier MS 230 n°333 flew by Compagnie Aérienne Française for training purposes.
A good candidat could be the F-ARON but there are no proof on the French register that it was belonging to Halna du Fretay.. The normal registration on the French register stopped end of june 1939.

Best regards
Franck

[wwrsimon]

Hello

Several British newspapers in May 1941 reported the award of his British Empire Medal, and mention his flight from France. The articles note that he had secretly assembled his aircraft in a wood, and covered it with branches and leaves during the daytime. He waited until there was a favourable tail-wind and then flew it across the Channel. The articles note that he left with only a few personal effects (no mention of a passenger), and the flight took one and a half hours.

Regards

Simon

[Bertrand H]

Thank you Simon for this additional information

Bertrand