Strana 63
S-199.66, ak. Ladislav Strnad, Air Military Academy, Hradec Králové,
Czechoslovakia, June 1950
S-199.486, Lt. František Fořt, No. 1 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 7,
Brno-Černovice, Czechoslovakia, 1950
This aircraft was assigned to Air Regiment 7 on
August 4, 1948. On May 10, 1950, it was sent to
the LVA (Air Military Academy), where it was
damaged during take-off from the Pardubice
airfield. A good quality photo of this crashed
aircraft exists and shows very interesting
coloring, as the rear fuselage and engine cowls
are clearly different shade of lighter color
compared to the original green. There might
be several reasons about this aircraft’s colors.
We believe there were probably some minor
repairs needed on the rear fuselage (or just
overpainting of original user’s code) and as the
LVA probably did not have the standard green
color the tan color intended for C-104s was
used. As there was also a need to change the
engine cowl at some point, the cowl from a dark
green aircraft was used and overpainted in the
same color as the rear fuselage to keep the
aircraft in some color “order”. But the new coat
chipped around the machine gun barrels and
the darker green surfaced there. Also, the right
slat is clearly dark green color. The question
mark hangs over the national insignia on upper
wing surfaces. On the photo it seems like they
were not painted there, but it might well be only
due to the over exposition of the surface under
the direct sun. Interesting is also the obvious
absence of most of the stencils. The front of the
fuselage and wings were quite worn out, while
both green and rear tan part of fuselage looks
like new. The engine cowl sports some chipping
and repairs in contrast.
This “Mezek” was test flown by factory pilot
Antonín Kraus on December 12, 1949. On January
24, 1950, the aircraft was taken over by the
military administration and assigned to LP 7
(Aviation Regiment 7) stationed at Brno-Slatina
airport on February 7 of the same year. It was
coded IV-8 and, according to the memories of
veterans and unit logs, it sported a drawing
of Diana carrying her bow. The author of the
drawing was the fiancée and future wife of
the deputy Squadron Commander and Flight
Commander František Fořt. According to period
witnesses, the same emblem also appeared on
the aircraft of two other Flight Commanders,
Lieutenants Jaromír Jech and Jiří Váňa. As is
mentioned in the unit memoirs, more S-199s
were equipped with various emblems, at least
for a certain period of time. They are even
documented in the said memoirs, but it is not
clear to which specific aircraft they refer to.
The aircraft was probably painted with darker
green paint on all surfaces. At that time, the
white of the spinner belonged to the aircraft of
Air Division, to which LP 7 and LP 8 (Aviation
Regiments 7 and 8) belonged, but not all aircraft
were so marked, and IV-8 was probably one
of these. There is no photographic evidence,
unfortunately.
KITS 02/2026
INFO Eduard
63
February 2026