On the night of Friday 16th to Saturday 17th April 1943, a tragic mistake of the air war occurred over the territory of occupied Czechoslovakia, when a raid by British four-engine bombers on the Skoda factories in Pilsen accidentally hit the town of Dobřany with bombs. During the war, the Skoda Werke factory in Plzeň was one of Nazi Germany's greatest assets after the occupation of the rest of Czechoslovakia and the establishment of the Protectorate of Cechy a Morava. The massive factory, which already produced a number of high-quality heavy weapons (cannons, gun tractors) and ammunition before World War II, was highly important for the war industry of the German Reich. Therefore, it also attracted the attention of British and American military planners. Its destruction would have hit the Nazi war machine hard.
On the evening of 16 April 1943, 327 Lancaster (197) and Halifax (130) bombers took off from English airfields, targeting the Skoda Werke. On a clear moonlit night, the first Lancaster Mk.l aircraft of 83 Squadron "Pathfinders" reached a distance of about 25 km southwest of Pilsen at 1:15 am. However, the pathfinder aircraft, the vanguard of the entire formation, were greeted by heavy anti-aircraft fire and a barrage of searchlights just outside its south-western edge. Apparently, the extensive building complex of the Dobrany psychiatric hospital, the cavalry barracks, and the effect of heavy an-tiaircraft fire were behind the mistaken target designation for the attacking bombers. The German anti-aircraft defences around Pilsen, consisting of several batteries of light and heavy flak, were well prepared. The flak was fatal for the British-Canadian crew of an Avro Lancaster Mk.l bomber serial number 85622 (OL-C) belonging to 83 Squadron. According to a report from the British Royal Air Force, this Lancaster was shot down by the crew of a single small-calibre Hotchkiss. The weapon used was probably a captured French gun known among the Germans as the 2.5 cm Pak 112 (f).
One report from a witness on the ground states that the aircraft lost altitude and descended towards the ground in a wide spiral, turning south-west to come over Dobřany main sqaure, which was largely illuminated by the surrounding fires, particularly the burning bell tower. One witness stated that the plane hit the tower, but German reports of losses mention no such thing, only fire damage. Photographs of the bell tower show no damage caused by the impact of the heavy bomber. The crew probably wanted to attempt an emergency landing. The uncontrolled aircraft, according to contemporary reports, missed the houses in Dobřany and crashed into the fields on the eastern edge of Dobřany near the railway station near today's Route 180.The fuselage was broken into two parts and witnesses claimed that the left wing was missing. The entire British-Canadian crew perished at the scene. The bodies of the airmen are now buried at the Olšany Cemetery in Prague. The Lancaster that was shot down has become a sad primacy holder. It was the first Allied aircraft lost over our territory, including the crew.
The consequences of the unintentional and completely unexpected raid on Dobřany were tragic. About 100 patients of the psychiatric hospital, 35 inhabitants of Dobřany, 11 inhabitants of Nová Ves and 60 German soldiers from the barracks perished. Of the 746 houses in Dobřany, only 200 remained undamaged. In total, 617 tons of bombs were dropped on Dobřany and the surrounding area, one third of which were incendiary phosphorus bombs. The raid was a complete failure and achieved no military strategic success. Only a few shrapnel hit Skoda Werke and production continued uninterrupted, necessitating further action by the RAF and USAAF later. Dobřany, on the other hand, took a long time to recover from the effects of the air raid. 

Mapa dopadu bomb ze ZPRÁVY O NOČNÍM NÁLETU č. 312 BOMBARDOVACÍ VELITELSTVÍ RAF