The 127th squadron of the British Royal Air Force (RAF) received a command to destroy an important German transport point in Zwolle, a town in the Netherlands. It was November 28, 1944 - the Second World War. The squadron, led by 22-year-old Slovak Otto Smik, flew right into German anti-aircraft fire. Smik got it first. Soon after, they shot his Belgian deputy Henry Taymans, who crashed into a nearby canal.

Between 1940 and 1943, Smik shot down nine German Messerschmidts and Fockewulfs, and three V-1 rockets, making him the fifth most successful combatant among the Czechoslovaks fighting in the West in WWII.

In 1943, British King George VI, the father of Elizabeth II, awarded Smik the highest pilots' decoration, the Distinguished Flying Cross (DFC). Soon after, the British named the 21-year-old Smik leader of the 127th British squadron. Only two other foreigners received such an honour.