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Czechoslovakia. After the L-39C was assembled in
Vietnam, the original transport crates were modified
to move this valuable cargo to Czechoslovakia.
The machine was flown by a Vietnamese pilot in
March 1981 to Da Nang. Prior to the flight, the original
insignia was painted over with black paint, and the
aircraft was on its way to Czechoslovakia.
Under great secrecy, the machine was delivered
to state owned Aero Vodochody, and its construction
and systems were subjected to intensive research
by our engineers and technical staff. The airframe
was gradually disassembled and the individual
parts and equipment were distributed to companies
in the aviation industry. At this point, it should be
mentioned that Czechoslovakia was not the only
country to which an F-5 from Vietnam arrived.
The first was, of course, the Soviet Union in 1976,
followed by Poland a year later.
At the beginning of 1982, the head of the Aviation
and Cosmonautics Exhibition of the Military Museum,
Colonel Jaroslav Janečka, also learned about the
existence of the F-5E and officially requested the
transfer of the aircraft to the museum’s collection.
However, he was informed by Aero management
that the machine incomplete and that research
was still being carried out on it ‘to obtain detailed
information about the structural and technological
design of the airframe...’. However, the following
year, a single General Electric J85-GE-21 engined
airframe was secretly transferred to Kbely under
the cover of darkness. Colonel Janečka recalled
that for transport to the museum, the airplane
was disguised using plywood to resemble an L-39
Albatros. After the end of testing, the museum staff
understandably began to search for any missing
components that were supplied to the firms involved
in examinations of them. The most involved in the
whole thing was a restorer named Jan Klaban,
who managed to acquire a number of instruments
and other items over the years, including the
antenna of the Emerson Electric AN/APQ-153 radar.
Unfortunately, many things, especially smaller
items, were left behind and had found their way to
private collections. This understandably hindered
the consideration of a possible renovation, because
before 1989 it was almost unthinkable to get the
missing components elsewhere.
Until 1990, the aircraft was kept in storage, hidden
from the public, and it was only that year that it was
presented for the first time in an outdoor exhibition
to open the museum season. Years of exposure in the
open air had a noticeable effect on its appearance,
especially its surface finish. It first appeared in the
markings of the Socialist Republic of Vietnam and
then those of the earlier South Vietnam.
In January 2023, a public tender was announced,
the subject of which was to renovate the aircraft
in the collection of the Military Historical Institute
in Prague for museum and exhibition purposes.
The description of the actual process of the work
carried out by Česká Aviatická is described in
the interview with Petr Ježek within the pages
of this newsletter. The refurbished F-5, including
preserved accessories, will be unveiled to the
public at the opening of the 2024 museum season
on May 4th.
References:
- DRENDEL, Lou. F-5 in action. Squadron Signal Publ.
Carrollton, 1980
- FOJTÍK, Jakub. Československý F-5E Tiger II.
Hobby Historie 34, s. 48-50
- JOHNSON, Frederick A. Northrop F-5/F-20/T-38.
WarbirdTECH vol. 44. Specialty Press, North
Branch, 2006
- LAKE, Jon. Northrop F-5. World Air Power Journal
vol. 25, s. 46-109
- THOMPSON, Warren. Skoshi Tiger, Wings
of Fame vol. 5, s. 4-23
- TÝC, Pavel. Northrop F-5 Freedom Fighter/Tiger II.
L+K 25-26/2002, s. 82-91
F-5E on the apron of the Kbely airport during the installation of the outdoor exhibit,
April 2005. [Photo: Miroslav Khol]
F-5E in the outdoor exhibition of the Aviation Museum before renovation. The
different distribution of the camouflage fields on the fuselage and the removable
rear section are clearly visible, indicating that they came from a different airframe.
This distribution of color fields was also preserved during the renovation.
[Photo: Miroslav Khol]
HISTORY
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March 2024