Bezák in his OK-MUA during an air show

(photo: Milan Jančář).

guys to get a Christmas tree.” Jason Kucera, a young aero club

member than and up until today still an active pilot-examiner,

was at the airport on that day. “I remember how we opened

the hangar doors and pushed his airplane out. He flew away, as

it turned out later, to board his family on the field but did not

manage to take off so instructed his wife to wait for him at the

runway end which is slightly uphill. He typically taxied to that

place before take-off to make radio contact with Prague area

control since it could not be established from the area in front

of hangar. After the landing we asked him whether he is going to

conduct any more flying but he answered he was packing it up

so we left to have a lunch.”

During his first attempt to take off with family on board Bezák

slightly damaged the wing. Therefore, he performed a quick fix

and after the area cleared, he started the engine and taxied

towards the woods where his wife with children were waiting.

“Since I had the concrete runway available now, slightly sloping, I managed to get airborne.” Bezák’s claims in emigration

were frequently contradictory, sometimes inaccurate or even

laughable (such as his claim about ultrasound cannons at the

border). His statement about the concrete runway at Kladno

airfield belongs to the last category. They have never had it, and

don’t have it now, which doesn’t change the fact that Bezák managed to get airborne at 12:45 pm. It was about a fifty-minute

flight to Nürnberg ahead of the family. The abstract to the post1989 television document about Bezák stated that “he fended

off combat Mig-17 attacks for an unbelievable forty minutes”.

If we omit the inaccurate fighter type, in reality Bezák’s encounter with captain Fiedler lasted some five or six minutes only...

Years after the escape

Germany therefore since 1974 he has been trying to relocate to

Canada. He received the permit in 1982 but the rest of the family had settled in Germany already, so he left with his son Roman

only, seventeen years old at that time. Later they were joined

by another son, Andre. In Canada Bezák kept flying, even coached the Canadian national aerobatic team. He lived in Collingwood (Ontario) on the shore of Lake Huron where he was also

running a guest house. The place was supposed to become an

aviation center, even with its own runway. However not all plans

materialized and then came November 1989 in Czechoslovakia…

The post-revolution times brought a satisfaction for Bezák

in the form of rehabilitation. For some reason he was even

awarded a military rank of Lt. Colonel and became an honorary member of the Military Headquarters. However, a lot of

people were surprised after his return. They said a completely

different person came back. Arrogant and unpleasant… “When

he emigrated, we had to clean out his house. I don’t know why

it fell on us, aero club members, but such were the orders.

He had a fully furnished workshop we had to remove all the

equipment and store it. Then it was sitting there for the next

thirty years, no one used it and when Bezák returned not only

did he want everything back, which was okay, but was also demanding the lease payment for those thirty years. It was rather

strange behavior from our point of view,” recalls Jasoň Kučera

and goes on: “Completely different person has returned, and I

know from German friends from the aero club at Elchingen airport (EDPA) where he had his aircraft based for some time and

taught aerobatics, that they gradually parted with him there

too. They didn‘t want to specify, but they just stopped working

with him.“

In the 60s though Bezák had a lot of friends and fans at home.

“He was such a down-to-the-ground, straightforward guy. And

Bezák’s family was granted political asylum within three days we rooted for him so much during the World Championship in

and one of his friends, a German aerobatic pilot, let them stay Bratislava,” recalls the former aerobatic pilot Jirina Lockeroin his house near Hannover. Bezák got a job at Henschel compa- va-Stoklasova. Bezak’s behavior surprised also in 1993, when he

ny but was fired in three months. He was not doing as well as he demanded a free overhaul of his then already stored Z 226 from

expected. For a while he flew charter flights, repaired aircraft the company ZLÍN-AVION service, claiming that it would bring

for some time or ran a pub. He was having problems with his them commercial success. His ofer was turned down politely…

Trener’s registration. In Germany he only obtained a temporary Reportedly, he was also turned down by the Chrudim Four when

matriculation (D-EMUD) but in the end he registered the airpla- he offered to fly with them again.

ne in Great Britain (G-BEZA). He felt he was not appreciated in

26

eduard

INFO Eduard - December 2021