Tomáš Lom

* 1924  †︎ 2021

  • “Teď řeknu možná něco, co ještě není v těch lejstrech. A neručím za to. On mi to řekl. No zkrátka, poradili mu, že jestli chce fouknut na Západ, nejlepší je hned. Protože teď jsou na mostě [v Bratislavě přes Dunaj] ještě prezenční vojáci. Musel jít tak, aby toho prezenťáka potkal uprostřed mostu. Tam prý na něj vytáhl pistoli, revolver a řekl mu: ,Hele, ty teď tady položíš svou flintu, půjdeš se mnou jako eskorta na druhý konec mostu, tam se rozloučíme, ty se vrátíš pro flintu a nikomu ani muk.’ Tak se dostal do ruské okupační zóny v Rakousku. Dobrodružně se dostal do Vídně, přihlásil se na anglickém vyslanectví, kde mu koupili letenku do Anglie. To byl jeho únik, dobrodružnější než ten první.”

  • "I was in the rear part of the airplane. There was a little window in the floor and I could watch the hits through it. And since I reported the truth, not improving the distance from the target, he was annoyed with me. During one flyby, I told him I hadn't even seen the bomb, he just muttered something angrily. Maybe saying I was being asleep out there. Unfortunately, I was right. The bomb remained hanging in the airplane hanger. The pilot angrily closed the bomb reservoir, made an elegant evasive manuevre and the bomb fell on the reservoir, went off and broke everything in distance. I was lucky not to be hit by any fragments but the hydraulics of the undercarriage was torn apart."

  • "I sat down by the radar. Luckily, there were clear description. In theory, I knew what were the magnetron, klystron, detector and so on. So I was able to make it work, more or less. In a while, Cpt. Hořejší asked me: 'So, what do you see in that magical box of yours?' I read the data and told him: 'The coastline is seven kilometers towards the left and there is no obstacle ahead of us.' - 'I can see that myself,' he replied. 'I don't need that box of yours for that!' After a while, he nervously asked: 'And what do you see now?' I read the info for him once again. He said: 'Now, that is better. I can't see a thing as we are in a thick cloud.' Since then, we had some level of understanding."

  • "A young boy came to see me. He had the same qualification as I did. He told me he was supposed to serve with Cpt. Hořejší but that his friends were at Simet's, and whether I'd be so kind to swap my spot. I told him: 'If you organize it at the HQ, why not. I don't know anyone in either crew and don't care.' He made it happen and I started with Hořejší. I was lucky as hell because Simet was a lousy pilot and crashed his plane in a few weeks. Practically none of his crew had survived."

  • Full recordings
  • 1

    Praha, 06.03.2018

    (audio)
    duration: 01:45:38
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 2

    Praha, 08.03.2019

    (audio)
    duration: 01:27:59
    media recorded in project Stories of the 20th Century TV
  • 3

    Praha, 20.04.2020

    (audio)
    duration: 01:10:00
    media recorded in project Memory of the Nation: stories from Praha 2
Full recordings are available only for logged users.

I became an expert on Macbeth

Tomáš Lom 1945
Tomáš Lom 1945
photo: archiv pamětníka

Tomáš Lom, né Löwenstein, was born in 1924 into a Jewish family of the ophthalmologist Arnold Löwenstein and his wife Elfrída Brillová. Prior to the German occupation, the family immigrated to England. Once there, Tomáš finished his studies and graduated from high school. In the fall of 1940, he enrolled to Faculty of Biology at University of Glasgow. In 1942, he joined the army and in 1944 underwent training for radio operators and gunmen. He then started military service with the 311th Czechoslovak Squadron of RAF, in the crew of cpt. Hořejší. Later on, he was transferred to 111th OTU Squadron stationed in Nassau, the Bahamas. After the war, he returned to Prague where he graduated from Charles University, Faculty of Mathematics and Physics. He joined the Communist Party but after the 1968 Soviet invasion had not passed the vettings and was expelled. After concluding his studies, he worked in the labs of the Tesla-VUVET company. He was engaged in scientific research up until retirement. Tomáš Lom passed away on June, the 23rd, 2021.