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,
-cpk
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images below to see larger images
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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received one Yak-17 for evaluation, but it was quickly superceded by the Yak-23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.)
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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.)
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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 30th 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 |
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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
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