BUILT

S-199.54, Sgt. František Novák, Fighter Training Center, No. 2 Squadron, Aviation Regiment 4,

Planá u Českých Budějovic, Czechoslovakia, May, 1948

After the communist takeover of Czechoslovakia, military pilot defections to the West were nothing unusual. Former RAF members, who either

suspected or even knew that they would be persecuted by the communists, crossed the border

and many younger pilots also decided to leave the

country. One of them was Sgt. František Novák, at

that time a trainee of the second class from the Fi-

June 2022

ghter Training Centre (SVS), who fled to then West

Germany on May 24, 1948. The aircraft was stored

in Munich and, after various obstacles were ironed

out, was transported to Czechoslovakia by land in

March 1950. From March 31 until October 24, 1950,

it underwent a general overhaul at the Avia factory. Later it served with LP 4 (Aviation Regiment

4). The Avia produced aircraft bore the standard

MNO Smalt Avion 2036.02 paint scheme on all surfaces and this aircraft was the tenth Avia factory

production piece to be fitted with a heat exchanger

instead of the original oil cooler. The cabin was of

the older design and the aircraft did not have machine guns in the wings, nor underwing cannons.

INFO Eduard

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