Strana 40
#2157BOXART STORY
Within the borders of the former Protectorate
of Bohemia and Moravia after the end of the war,
there were, among other things, a number of
Bf 109G-10/U4 aircraft in various states of
completion, or parts thereof. The vast majority
of these were products of the protectorate branch
of Wiener Neustädter Flugzeugwerke (WNF) in
Tišnov, and included three Bf 109s from Kralupy nad
Vltavou that had been flown before the end of the
war, one aircraft being found at Prague-Letňany
Airport, as well as tail subassemblies from smaller
factories in Bučovice and Koryčany. By the end of
1945, the entire aircraft and components, together
with other captured material, were concentrated
at the Avia factory in Prague-Čakovice. There, they
were overhauled and subsequently assembled.
The refurbished aircraft were designated ‘C-10
– Me 109’, the letter C indicating a trainer aircraft.
On September 13, 1945, under this designation, the
type was accepted by the decree of the Defense
Ministry’s MNO
-
HŠ VL ref. no. 13091/let., 1945, into
the list of designations and names of aircraft of
captured and foreign origin. The assembly of the
first aircraft began by Avia before the end of 1945,
while the official order ref. no. 56749 II/4. sec. 1946
was for twenty aircraft, which were intended for
the newly established units – police air patrols
– of the Air Force of the National Security Corps
(SNB) established by the Ministry of the Interior
on March 25th, 1946.
The first prototype C-10.1 prototype was flown
on February 22nd, 1946 by the company‘s test pilot
Petr Široký and was then tested at the Scientific
Aviation Institute (VLÚ) in Letňany, including with
rocket boosters, among other items. Its original
W.Nr. 613 156 places it in the 5th series of aircraft
of the G-10/U4 version (as part of the WNF/Diana
production) in the block of production numbers
613 000 – 613 200 completed between January
and March, 1945. Another twenty C-10 conversions
also came from the same production block,
but the assignment of their known production
numbers to the military registration numbers of
Czechoslovak aircraft has not been documented
(with the exception of the first aircraft).
The difference of one unit between the ordered
and delivered aircraft was due to the replacement
of the destroyed C-10.3 aircraft with the new-built
C-10.21. The first aircraft were available in mid-
1946 and their flights were carried out alternatingly
by Avia factory test pilots Petr Široký and Antonín
Kraus. By the end of that year, sixteen aircraft
had been completed, and in mid-September,
according to a report at a meeting of the Air Force
Command, only five C-10 aircraft were in service.
The remaining five aircraft from the entire twenty-
one series were delivered almost six months later
than the previous machines, in April and May 1947.
The aircraft were taken over from production by
the Military Acceptance Commission and then
handed over to representatives of the SNB Air
Force (which was established on March 25, 1946).
The function of this air unit was identical to
the tasks of the pre-war Border Police (ČLH): it
was mainly about ensuring the air defense of
the state against the activities of foreign aircraft,
supervising compliance with aviation regulations,
and protecting airports. In addition, its task was
also to assist ground security forces in carrying out
their tasks and to provide rescue and assistance
services.
Ten air patrols were gradually established from
June 1946 to November 1948, distributed throughout
the entire territory of the Republic. The following
LHs were subordinate to the three Regional
Commands of the SNB (State Security Service):
Prague-Ruzyně, České Budějovice, Plzeň-Bory,
Karlovy Vary, Jičín, Olomouc-Neředín, Brno,
Bratislava-Vajnory, Košice and Rimavská Sobota.
Detachments were temporarily established in
Přerov and Zvolen, and later also in Klatovy and
Mariánské Lázně, which performed specific tasks
in the fight against the so-called ‘Banderovets’
(members of the nationalist Ukrainian Insurgent
Army), or to prevent aircraft from leaving the
Republic after February 1948.
At least seven C-10 aircraft were assigned for
the retraining of the first SNB pilots, on which
they trained together with military pilots from
the summer to fall of 1946 as part of the pilot
retraining course of the Air Force Command at
the Prague-Kbely airport. After completing the
course, these aircraft were assigned to the others
in the SNB LH network. In the spring of 1947, the
SNB Air Force lent nine of its C-10 aircraft for the
retraining of military pilots to the Fighter Training
Center at the 2nd Air Division at Planá airport
(České Budějovice), where they were assigned to
the Command Squadron.
The aircraft retained their original C-10
designation only until May 1947, when they were
redesignated S-99, where the S stood for ‘fighter’.
The name of the SNB Air Force existed until
mid-December 1947, when it was changed to the
Security Air Force. However, its activity did not
last long, because after three years, on December
23rd, 1950, this air component was abolished.
On its basis, a new, now military unit was created
- aviation regiment LP 51, with deployment at the
airport Plzeň-Skvrňany, using the same personnel
and equipment including the S-99s. In the end,
the Ministry of National Defense took over only
thirteen aircraft, the rest were not handed over
due to damage or accidents. Only four aircraft
were lost or stricken off charge during service.
At the end of 1950, ten aircraft were selected and
converted to the S-199 with the Jumo 211F engine.
The remaining serviceable S-99s reached their
end of service in the spring of 1951
Text: Michal Ovčáčík
Illustration: Antonis Karydis
Avia C-10/S-99
The First Czechoslovak 109s
INFO Eduard40
September 2026