Chugalug and Brian 48nav, My Dad always said that he went via Poland. I have a book called 'Czechs in the RAF' and it explains that the hundreds of air and ground crew crossed the border illegally into Poland. The Poles did not initially offer them opportunities to join them but the French offered to accept them in the Foreign Legion on the understanding that if war was declared they would be allowed to join the French Air Force. The book states that between May and August 1939 470 airmen reached France aboard six transport ships, they would have gone through the Baltic and into the North Sea. My Dad did end up in Algeria at Sidi-bel-Abbes in the Foreign Legion but only for a short time from what I understand. They then went to France when Britain and France declared war on Germany in September 1939.
I have just looked up the Czech flying school log book and the period was shorter than I thought. There are 414 entries, starting in June 1938 and the last one in March 1939.
Pali, There is a picture in my book of General Heliodor Pika at the ceremony/parade at Prague Ruzyne airport in August 1945 when 54 Spitfires of the Czechoslovak Fighter Group were welcomed back. It does say that he was executed by the communists in 1949. One of the other Generals in the picture Karel Janousek is reported to have spent 16 years in jail because of his involvement in the West. I have a picture of my father in the same uniform