KITS 10/2023

Z-526, s/n 1048; D-EDTP, private, Líně airfield, Czech Republic, 2023

The aircraft was manufactured in 1968 and in June

of the same year it was taken over by Mr. Arthur

Beth (Porta Westfalica, Germany). The aircraft

was given the D-EDTP registration and shortly

before the World Aerobatic Championships in

Magdeburg it was taken over by Richard Hecht,

member of the German national team. He

had high hopes of success, but only until the

Czechoslovak team appeared on the scene with

their brand new Z-526AS aerobatic specials.

However, during the competition on August

21, Czechoslovakia was invaded by “friendly”

forces and the national team withdrew from the

championship. Hecht then operated the aircraft

for many years, and the aircraft’s logbook lists

interesting names such as Ladislav Bezák, the

first aerobatic world champion (already in exile

at the time), and former Luftwaffe ace Walter

Wolfrum (137 kills). At the end of the 1990s the

aircraft was no longer flying much and in 2000

it was sold to another owner in Germany. The

current Czech owner then bought the aircraft

from him and kept the German matriculation.

At that time the aircraft had flown only 1114 hours.

The rudder was consequently decorated with

a painting of the girl by Antonio Vargas, while

on the starboard of the front fuselage there is

the inscription Small Beautiful Doll, which is

a paraphrase of the Big Beautiful Doll inscription

painted on the P-51D of Colonel John D. Landers

(14.5 kills), commander of the 78th FG. On the left

side of the engine cowling is another reference

to the P-51 Mustang, the inscription Daddy’s

Girl. The aircraft named such was flown by Ray

S. Wetmore (21.25 kills). The owner has stamped

the name with a Roman numeral two because his

previously owned Trenér had the same name.

Z-526F, s/n 1242, OE-CSA, private, Austria, 2019

Manufactured in 1973, the aircraft was exported

to Hungary, where it received the HA-SAR

designation and flew there until 1987, when it

was sold to Graz, Austria. There it received the

OE-CSA registration and also an attractive livery.

It was based in Punitz in 1991, crashed in 1999 and

had another accident in 2001 when the pilot had to

38

INFO Eduard

make an emergency landing near Pöttelsdorf after

losing fuel pressure. Ten years later, on August

19, 2022, while taxiing after landing at Breighton

Airport (UK) the pilot reported he lost directional

control of the aircraft and subsequently crashed

into an aerobatic Van RV-6 aircraft. The ill-fated

Trenér was then repaired again. In Otrokovice,

the right wing and engine cowls were restored

and today the aircraft is flying again. By the way,

just a week before the last accident, OM-CSA was

visiting Nové Město nad Metují in the country of

its origin, i.e., in Czech Republic.

October 2023