S-199.165, 1 Squadron, 18 Aviation Regiment, Plzeň-Skvrňany, Czechoslovakia, July 1952

This aircraft was test-flown at the end of October 1948 by the factory pilot Petr Široký and on November 23 it was flown to the designated Pilsen Aviation Regiment 4. On March 19, 1950, the aircraft was damaged, subsequently repaired and reassigned to the unit in mid-July of the same year. From April 1952 it was used by the 1 Squadron of the 18 Aviation Regiment at the Plzeň-Skvrňany airfield. On July 23, 1952, this Avia, codenamed PS-15, was flown by Lt. Vladislav Petráš who was performing a training flight. During it, a technical malfunction occurred, and the pilot had to make an emergency belly-landing near Trhové Dušníky, Příbram district. In such a landing, the aircraft suffered only minor damage, especially to the propeller blades and was subsequently repaired.

S-199.444, 2 Squadron, 1 Aviation Regiment, 3 Air Division, Praha-Kbely, Czechoslovakia, April 1951

The aircraft serial number 444 was test-flown by factory pilot Antonín Kraus on September 5, 1949 and from the end of August 1950 it served with the Aviation Regiment 1. In April 1951 it was operated by its 2 squadron in Prague-Kbely, where it bore the designation JW-38. On April 21, 1951, the pilot of this aircraft, rt. (TSgt) Jiří Klempíř crashed at the Letňany airfield as the aircraft bounced on a terrain wave and fell from the height to the ground during take-off. The short career of this “Mezek” (Mule) was ended in mid-June 1951, when the operation was accountably terminated, and the aircraft was subsequently scrapped.

S-199.156, 3 Squadron, Air Regiment 8, 3 Air Division, Brno-Černovice, Czechoslovakia, June 1949

The Avia S-199 number 156 was produced in the summer of 1948 and was assigned to the 3 Air Division in mid-November. In June 1949, it was stationed with Aviation Regiment 8 at the Brno-Černovice airfield. The code designation NP-2 hints it was the aircraft of the 3 Squadron. The aircraft was painted by light gray-green color shade and had the front part repaired with a darker shade of green paint. On June 10, 1949, the pilot, rt. (TSgt) Jan Dočkal damaged it during landing at his home airfield. After repair, the aircraft was then assigned to Aviation Regiment 3. This “Mezek” (Mule) had machine guns in the wing installed. On March 18, 1952, it was destroyed during take-off.

Police Air Patrol, Brno/Olomouc, Czechoslovakia, 1949

The Police Air Patrol of the Security Air Force (until mid-December 1947 the National Security Air Force) used this aircraft at Brno or Olomouc airports. At the time of its service with the Police Air Patrol, it bore the standard livery of this air force, i.e., light grey paint on the upper surfaces and dark grey on the lower surfaces, complemented by scarlet paint on the nose and leading edge of the wing. Also, the horizontal tail surfaces were the same color. The reconstruction of the color scheme was based on photographs of similar aircraft as no photographs of the OK-BXK have survived. The serial number is still unknown, but could probably be 201, 410 or in the range 414 to 416. There is full range of the digits for creating any number.