NARRACIONES DE COMBATE

PRIMER REGIMIENTO INDEPENDIETE CHECOSLOVACO

The first non Soviet unit to receive the Lavochkin fighter was the 1st at Czech fighter regiment and was incorporated in the 2nd Air Army under the command of experienced group of Czechoslovak pilots who had previously flown in the RAF. As serving members of the RAF it had taken the approval of the British Cabinet to transfer the men. Twenty pilots under the command of Captain Frantisek Fajtl set sail from Glasgow for the Soviet Union on 21st February 1944, aboard the ship Reina dei Pacific.

On the April 16th 1944 the Czech Pilots started training at Ivanovo airfield. Familiarisation on the La 5UTI began on May 3rd the pilots progressing to the La 5FN the following day! The May 3rd had seen the unit officially integrated into the Soviet organisation as the 128 Czechoslovak Squadron in the USSR.

By June 16th 1944, the unit was re-designated as the 1st Czechoslovak independent and was incorporated in the 2nd Air Army under the command of General Krasivskij.

On September 10th 1944 the unit was ready for action.

The Slovak National Uprising started on September 29th 1944 and the regiment was sent to aid the uprising on the 17th September, the first time the Czech pilots had landed in their homeland for five years. _ Operating from an airfield complex known as Tri Duby (Three Oaks) the unit was in action the very next day, taking the Germans completely by surprise.

The occupying forces had no idea that the air support was operating behind their lines. The initial ground attack raids on the German airfields caused great damage among parked Luftwaffe aircraft.

The winter and spring of 1944/45 saw Czechoslovak Lavochkin's operating in Poland and Northern Moravia, these units still operating at the termination of hostilities.

After WW11, La 5FN's were issued to the newly reformed. Czechoslovak Airforce, and continued in service up to 194~8