were sitting. Had he been actually hit his sons would have been

wounded at least if not dead regardless the fact that NR-23 cannon 23 mm high explosive bullet would have made some 50 cm

diameter hole in the fuselage skin and the airplane would not

have survived several hits like that,” stated in the aforementioned book by Miroslav Irra one of the 5th Fighter Regiment

members Zdeněk Lapka. The author includes more information

about the ammunition in this book. “As far as I know for the

air defense system alert aircraft the NR-23 cannons were loaded with LETT ammunition (Live Explosive Timed Tracer) which

is the auto-destructive type of ammunition since it could hit

civilian populated areas. Auto-destruction is triggered after the

tracing component is burnt, no sooner than two seconds after

the shot is fired. The explosive component is either pentrit or

hexogen. There was no large noticeable damage observed on

Bezák’s airplane after his landing. A hit by a 23 mm projectile

would have been certainly visible.

Captain Karel Fiedler

Who actually was the pilot who intercepted Bezák and to

whom the famous acrobatic pilot in many interviews showed

only disdain and hatred? Karel Fiedler was born on February

1, 1933 and he graduated from the 14th course of the Aviation School (October 15, 1951 – December 12, 1953). Initially he

served at 17th Fighter Regiment based at Hradčany airport flying

Mig-15 and Mig-15bis. In 1961 he was ordered to 5th Fighter Regiment in Line where he converted to supersonic Mig-19 three

years later. At the time of his confrontation with Bezák he had

flown as a fighter pilot for 17 years. His colleagues have good

memories of him. “He was a nice fellow, a sportsman, a lot of

fun, he played accordion and brought it with him anywhere

possible, including survival training. We served together in the

same flight until 1964. Then I was transferred to Mig-19S and he

went to the interceptors, Mig-19PM. At the same time, he continued flying Mig-15bis which was at that time used against slow

flying targets,” recalls one of the legends of Czechoslovak Air Force, Jaroslav Krýda. Miloš Janda,

who was member of Fiedler‘s flight during the

60s, confirms this. “He was a humble and merry

guy and a good pilot.” The last Fiedler’s flight

commander before his retirement, was Miroslav

Lanči and he too describes him in a similar way:

“We were buddies, he was a merry guy and professionally very good and reliable pilot.”

In the coming period of political “normalization” Karel Fiedler had a rough time. In 1971

he was one of seventeen pilots of the Squadron

that did not pass the political screening. Some

of them had to leave but Fiedler was allowed to

Captain Fiedler during so-called survival training, here in the company of the parachute

service lady Eva Křížková (photo: Miroslav

Lanči).

Group of 5th Fighter Squadron pilots. Captain

Fiedler is the third from right (photo: Miroslav Lanči).

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INFO Eduard - December 2021