Once again, I present my annual 1/72 scale celebration of Czech Independence Day (28 October) and the armed forces of Czechoslovakia and the Czech Republic.  The Czechoslovak nomenclature is given where applicable:  trainers were designated “C” (cvinca) and fighters “S” (stihací).  This system was applied from 1945-1957, after which the original (usually Soviet) names were used, and the alphanumeric squadron codes were abandoned in favor of four-digit serial numbers. 

Na shledanou,

Click on images below to see larger images

CS.92 Turbína:  Czech factories built the Messerschmitt 262 jet fighter during the German occupation, and Czechoslovakia’s first jets were Me.262’s built from captured parts and tooling.  The first S.92 was assembled at the Letňany Research Institute in 1945 and flew in 1946;  the first CS.92 trainer (V-31, depicted here) was flown later that same year.  Twelve aircraft were built (nine fighters, three trainers) and assigned to the Fifth Fighter Squadron in Brno from 1948-1951.   (Smer kit with pilots and some cockpit details from spares.) 

S.100 (Yak-17 FEATHER):  The Yakovlev design bureau built its first fighter jet, the Yak-15, by mounting a captured German jet engine in a modified Yak-3 airframe.  Because the Yak-3 was a tail-dragger, the jet exhaust tended to scorch the tarmac while the Yak-15 was on the ground.  The Yak-17 added tricycle landing gear along with some less visible improvements.  Czechoslovakia received one Yak-17 for evaluation, but it was quickly superceded by the Yak-23 and MiG-15.  The test article (Yellow-30) is now preserved in the Kbely Museum.  (AModel kit, pilot from spares.)

S.101 (Yak-23 FLORA):  The Yak-23 was the last of the jets developed from the Yak-3.  The MiG-15 was a more advanced design, but was having development trouble in the late 1940s;  the Yak-23 was a less radical design produced as a backup.  Czechoslovakia received 21 Yak-23 aircraft in 1949-50:  they replaced Spitfires and Me.109s at Cheb and Brno-Turany.  Plans for license production in Czechoslovakia were abandoned when the MiG-15 proved a superior aircraft.  HX-51 is one of the few intact Yak-23s left, and is stored at Kbely.  (KP kit, pilot from spares.  Thanks to IPMS Pittsburgh for donating the kit.)

MiG-15SB:  Czechoslovakia’s fighter squadrons upgraded from the MiG-15 in 1958, but some MiG-15s were retained and modified for the ground-attack role.  These MiG-15SB (stihaci bombardovaci, fighter-bomber) aircraft had four added wing pylons for ground-attack ordnance;  some could also be fitted with SRP-1 pods (startovací raketa pomocná, auxiliary takeoff rocket).  They remained in service until 1983.  The aircraft depicted here belonged to the 30^th Attack Regiment “Ostravsky”, named in honor of the Czechoslovak ground-attack regiment that flew under Soviet command at the liberation of Ostrava in April 1945.   (KP kit, Neomega ejection seat and homemade unit crests.)

Charles’ Complete 1/72 Czech Forces, 2002-2005

Additional References:

Yefim Gordon, Mikoyan-Gurevich MIG-15 (Midland Publishing,2001) and Early Soviet Jet Fighters (Voyageur Press, 2002); Zdenek Titz and Richard Ward, Czechoslovakian Air Force 1918-1970  (Arco Publishing, 1971);  Army of the Czech Republic Air Museum, Kbely;  Air Museum, Kbely;  Jets 45; Model and decal brochures