HISTORY

White codes, black codes…

3. part

Text: Michal Ovčáčík

Photo collections of the author, Jaroslava Bartáček,

Bohumír Kudlička and Libor Režňák; Letecká badatelna

(Aviation Researchers) via Pavel Krejčí

Avia manufactured S-199.466 painted in the medium green-gray with black code letters UC-80 from the 4th Aviation Training Squadron based at Prostějov-Štichovice. On May 17,

1951, the Flying School air cadet Jaroslav Sejrek botched this landing. The arrow pointed to the fuselage step was painted black, sprayed through the stencil.

Coloration

of the Czechoslovak

Air Force S-199

In the 2nd part dedicated to the Czechoslovak S-199 coloration

we focused on two color shades applied on these aircraft and

two orders specifying the appearance and positioning of the

national insignias.

Another marking feature of the S-199 were

the alpha-numerical fuselage codes identifying the aviation units and institutions –

combat units, flying schools, training centers or research centers. The rules and

regulations were established, same as for

the national insignias, by the aforementioned MNO order: MNO-VL c. j. 157 Taj. let.

1946 (Ministry of Defense regulation No.

157; Secret; Aviation; 1946) dated January 1946, namely its descriptive attachment

No. 2, graphic attachments Nos. 3 and

4 and especially the table of national

insignia design (for further study refer to the

Jan Máče Publisher “Coloration and markings of the Czechoslovak Air Force during

16

INFO Eduard

1945–1957” publication released in 2004).

Let us quote the fourth paragraph from

the Attachment No. 2 of the Application and the Maintenance of the Markings:

“All code letters are painted in vertical font

and are of the same measurements. To

make them clearly visible they are painted

black on the light background and white on

the dark background (in compliance with

the Czechoslovak Aviation Norms)”. During

the initial period this identification marking

was placed on both sides of the fuselage

and the wing undersides either complete on each half of the wing or split so as

letters were on one wing half and numeral

on the other one. This marking system is

documented for example on the first restored C-10.1 aircraft “black V-9” or S-99.6

“black EV-11” (later converted to S-199.183)

even though in the second case the presence of the code on the lower wing is

disputable due to the poor quality of the

source photograph. From April 1951 the

markings were applied to the fuselage only

in accordance with the new order MNO-VL

č. j. 0010941/51.

In reality not all was done according to the

rules so in the number of pictures of S-199

we can identify the aircraft painted in light

green-gray color and the markings painted in white instead of black. The aircraft

painted in darker green overall featured the

unit markings consistently painted white

though. The letters (a letter in case of LVA

and VLU/LVU) were separated by a hyphen

and the codes were brush-painted into the

previously outlined shapes, therefore the

shapes and sizes of the letters and nume-

November 2022