Czech Republic warbirds. Lots of photos

[Taigh Ramey]

I was doing some flight training with a customer in Prague and we got to see quite a few Warbirds there.

One man has a large collection of many aircraft that will be familiar to you all. Other are in storage at a museum.

The flight training was in a British registered C-45H at Letnany, CZ with two great people, Petr and Monika. They are smitten with their Beech and are having fun. Here is the happy couple.









And their nice C-45H.









They were based at Letnany Airport which is just Northwest of Prague. They said it was used by the Germans in WWII for Heinkel production and that the hangars were from that time period.



They said that this hangar was used to test Heinkel cannons hence the long back end where the rounds ended up





Here is a map of the Prague area with the fields visited and where we did some flight training. Petr had only been operating the Beech off of grass strips so landing on a hard surface was a new experience. Quite a nice change!



An aerial shot back toward the grass field of Letnany. Just behind is the Air Force base of Kbely which is the home of the Prague Aviation Museum. Sadly it was closed but I did get some aerial shots of the museum and some of their aircraft in storage.



Some single engine practice



We visited a private collection at Mnichovo Hradiste where you might see some familiar warbirds from the US. Impressive is a massive understatement.





















































For you L-39/L-29 fans we flew over Vodochody Airport and the Aero factory









Here are some aerial shots over Kbely Airport and the Prague Aviation Museum



















Here are some of the aircraft in storage for the museum

















Petr was kind enough to arrange for me to hop on a training flight in an Antonov AN-2 Colt biplane. It was a blast watching these guys do pattern work and then it got even better. The right seat guy jumped out and gave me his seat so I could try my hand at it. HOW COOL! What a sweetheart of a beast. I want one!









Prague, just as they say, is beautiful. Actually that is also an understatement. Wow!













Thanks to Petr and Monika for showing me their beautiful country!

Last edited by Taigh Ramey on Wed Apr 29, 2015 3:37 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[TAdan]

Great stuff, thanks for sharing Taigh!

[dirtysidedown430]

Great shots great trip wonder the story with the Japan bird

[p51]

Great shots!
My Grandmother (1900-1995) was born in the area around Prague, and left there for the New World about 1905. I've always wanted to visit the area.
The area for the most part didn't get flattened nearly as bad as a lot of Western Europe during WW2 so there are apparently large areas that retain the Old World charm that the rest of Europe had before 1939. My understanding is that it's a big destination for European-based WW2 re-enactors to do events at...

[Zac Yates]

More great photos Taigh, looks like you had an awesome time! And how about that collection! Not just that they seem to have doubles of almost everything, but also that beautiful hangar complex.

[airnutz]

Great shots great trip wonder the story with the Japan bird

One of Raybourne Thompson's former mounts N50RT... Immaculately maintained and looking like she's got a great new home! Thanks Taigh! Good timing for posting the photos. I knew where the Zeke went when she moved on, but not "where" she resides. Here's a video of the bird at a display in Poland I dug up a few days ago...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=urSjYMnQsZ8

Corrected link error!

[Lightjug]

Thanks for taking the time to post all these great pictures.

[pjpahs]

Went on a Viking river cruise last June and Made stops at Salzburg to see Red Bull Museum, WOW. Made a 2 day extension after the cruise and spent 2 days in Prague. Did get to the museum at Kbely and I'm sorry it was closed when you were there. Lots of everything, the Czech copies of the 109 and 262 both single and 2 seat models. The P-51 , Excalibur, was owned by a local Doctor and I had seen it a few times, at the local airport and at the Gathering of Mustangs and Legends in 2007. I wish I had the time to see it at it's new museum , maybe next time. Prague is a great city and I was on some of those streets you shown. Thanks for sharing.

[vernicator]

Ah, so that's where it ended up.

http://warbirdinformationexchange.org/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=39744

[kalamazookid]

Great to see pictures of "Riff Raff" again. I used to see it at airshows quite a bit when Mike Keenum was the owner. One of my favorite warbirds!

[marine air]

You live a fascinating life! Interesting photos, especially liked the cars and architecture. Thanks for posting for us Wixers.

[MichiganRick]

I really appreciate the time you took to post your pictures. What an amazing trip. Thank you

[Robbie Stuart]

Taigh, those are some amazing sights, & aircraft. Thanks for for taking the time to share your photos with us.
Robbie

[Ken]

Some of our photos from Kbely can been seen via link in this thread. Thanks for sharing Taigh!

viewtopic.php?p=497304

[michaelharadon]

So nice of Monika to pose for the nose art.