- A plaque and bench have been unveiled near Start Point, Devon, to honour Wing Commander Alois Vasatko, whose Spitfire crashed into the sea in June 1942 and whose body was never recovered.
- Vasatko, 33, was one of the RAF’s most senior Czech officers, commanding the 310/312/313 Czech Fighter Wing, fighting in the Battle of Britain and awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross.
- The memorial was a joint gesture by the Czech Ministry of Defence and local groups (Stokenham Parish Council donated the bench; a local stonemason built it) and recalls a 1942 escort mission when 36 Spitfires flew and seven were lost.
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