BOXART STORY

#7055

The Breakpoint

“Canopy, oxygen, KAP, ARK, SRO, battery, gyro,

landing gear ...” The instructor listens to the

pre-flight check by the student pilot in the

front cockpit. A few seconds later, the student

moves the thrust lever forward, revs the

RD-45 engine to 11,560 rpm, releases the

brakes and heads out for his examination

flight. Unless he screws up, he's in for

his desired first solo flight ... “Watch the

heading,” comes the instructor’s calm voice

over the headset as the nose lifts. “He's really

got a good memory,” flashes through the

student’s mind as the main gear wheels leave

the concrete runway. He screwed up one of

his first take offs as he got a little bit off

the heading of the runway and immediately

got a telling off from the instructor. So far

today, though, it’s looking good. He’s raising

the landing gear, retracts flaps and takes

the engine revs down to 10,800 rpm. An eye

on the exhaust gas temperature: 680°C.

That’s good. Feeling like everything's going

like clockwork, he sets course towards the

training zone…

The year 1951 marked a major breakpoint for

the Czechoslovak Air Force. After a period

in which a handful of pilots had become

familiar with the S-92, i.e., the Me 262, or

with the early designs of Soviet jets as

the Yak-17 and Yak-23, the wheels of first

MiG-15s touched the runway of Mladá

airbase in May. The qualitative leap from the

madcap and unreliable propeller-driven Avia

S-199s to the best jet available at the time

was enormous. Moreover, Czechoslovakia

April 2023

was the first country to obtain the rights to

license production of the MiG-15. A licensing

agreement was signed on April 17, 1951. The

first ten MiG-15s were however assembled

from parts shipped from the USSR, and the

first of these took to the air on November 6,

1951. As early as May, however, the Air Force

took delivery of six single-seat MiG-15s

which flew in directly from the USSR. In July,

they were supplemented by four two-seaters

UTI MiG-15s, delivered in crates. All these

aircraft were intended for the No. 5 Fighter

Squadron based at Mladá airbase. It was

the only unit in Czechoslovakia to use the

S-92/CS-92 (Me 262) and S-101 (Yak-23) jets.

This unit was transformed into the Air Force

Jet Training Center (PVSL) on June 1, 1951 and

Lt. Col. Jaroslav Týkal, later Czechoslovak

Air Force commander, led it for the first

two months.

The Center first task was to retrain the

personnel of the entire 3 Air Division, which

command was subsequently taken over by

Lt. Col. Týkal. Since then, the UTI MiG-15s

were in constant use and their need grew

as the number of pilots of this type was

increasing. However, the Czechoslovakian

production started only in 1954, until then the

aircraft used for training and conversions

were delivered directly from the USSR. A total

of 3,454 MiG-15s rolled off the Czechoslovak

production lines, and the UTI trainer was

by far the most numerous of the variants

produced. By 1961, 2013 of them had been

produced, most of them were exported. Only

Text: Richard Plos

Illustration: Kateřina Borecká

155 were destined for the Czechoslovak Air

Force, where they ended their service on April

1, 1983, with the 4th Squadron, of 1 Fighter

Air Regiment based in České Budějovice.

At that time, the unit's inventory included two

UTI MiG-15s, Nos. 2311 and 2470.

The aircraft No. 2463 depicted in the painting

by Kateřina Borecká, started its service

in 1957 at 15 Fighter Air Regiment based in

Žatec. In 1970 it underwent repairs at the

Kbely Aviation Maintenance Center (LOK)

and was assigned to 6 Fighter-Bomber air

Regiment in Přerov. Its service ended with

30 Fighter-Bomber air Regiment in Hradec

Králové at the beginning of 1983.

... A hand on the throttle pulled it back to speed

down to below 400 km/h, the maximum for

flaps and landing gear deployment. But there

was still time for it. First, he had to obtain

clearance to enter the airfield traffic pattern,

then to adjust the altitude and lower the

speed even more. “Slow down descending,”

comes the instructor’s voice in the headset,

but more just for saying something at last, as

there wasn't a single comment from the back

cockpit during the whole time of maneuvering

in the training zone. On the final approach,

everything looked fine and after the landing

gear wheels touched the runway smoothly,

he knew, he’d done it. “Are you afraid?” the

instructor snaped at him, barely out of the

cockpit. “N... no, Captain,” the student pilot

replied in surprise. “Okay, so scat and prepare

yourself for solo flight!”

INFO Eduard

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