Strana 45
II./JG 52, Ainring, Germany, May 1945
Avia S-99.21, Police Air Patrol Unit, Czechoslovak Police Air Force,
Prague-Ruzyně, 1947-1950
This Bf 109 was delivered to I./JG 53 at the
end of December 1944. There it received the
unit’s insignia on the nose, a spade ace, along
with a yellow band. The fuselage was marked
with Stab designations, and the rudder was
painted yellow, with the first digit 6 of the
serial number visible on the left side of the
fin and the last digit 8 on the right side. Likely
in April 1945, after the dissolution of I./JG 53,
the aircraft was transferred to II./JG 52. Here,
the markings of the previous unit were painted
over with camouflage paint. The primary focus
of operations conducted by II./JG 52 in 1945 was
combat against Red Army forces in Hungary and
Austria. In April 1945, II./JG 52 briefly operated
from the territory of the Protectorate of Bohemia
and Moravia, conducting missions in support
of German forces against the Soviet offensive
during the battles for Brno. A photograph
captured the aircraft marked as Yellow 6 on
May 8, 1945, at Ainring airfield in Bavaria.
This aircraft was the last unit assembled in the
spring of 1947 at the Avia factory in Čakovice.
After test flights and inspections, it was located
at Ruzyně Airport in mid-July 1947, where it
served with the Czechoslovak Police (SNB) Air
Force until the summer of 1950 (with a one-and-
a-half-year break for repairs following a crash).
From mid-December 1947, the Czechoslovak
Police Air Force was renamed to the Aviation
Security Corps of the Ministry of the Interior
(BL, Bezpečnostní letectvo ministerstva vnitra).
The aircraft was painted steel gray on the
upper and side surfaces, with the undersides
coated in a darker gray color. The aircraft
operated by the SNB/BL patrols had engine
cowlings, wing leading edges, and horizontal
stabilizers, including elevators, painted scarlet
red. Registration markings on the sides of the
fuselage and on the upper and lower wing
surfaces were applied in the same red color
with a white outline. The national insignia took
the shape of a rounded triangle, which was
standard for Police Air Patrol Unit. On this
particular Avia, the insignia lacked the white
outline.
KITS 02/2025
INFO Eduard
45
February 2025