The Slovak Resistance Air Force (in Slovak: ''Slovenské povstalecké letectvo'') was an

Allied An alliance is a relationship among people, groups, or states that have joined together for mutual benefit or to achieve some common purpose, whether or not explicit agreement has been worked out among them. Members of an alliance are called ...

air unit which fought against

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis *Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinate ...

forces in

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the s ...

and participated in the

Slovak National Uprising The Slovak National Uprising ( sk, Slovenské národné povstanie, abbreviated SNP) was a military uprising organized by the Slovak resistance movement during World War II. This resistance movement was represented mainly by the members of the ...

in August–October 1944. B-534 Kombinovana letka

History

The Slovak National Uprising, organized by Slovak military resistance, began in unfavourable conditions on 29 August 1944. In the first few days the resistance lost major airfields in

Piešťany Piešťany (; german: Pistyan, hu, Pöstyén, pl, Pieszczany , cs, Píšťany ) is a town in Slovakia. It is located in the western part of the country within the Trnava Region and is the seat of its own district. It is the biggest and best kno ...

Spišská Nová Ves Spišská Nová Ves (; hu, Igló; german: (Zipser) Neu(en)dorf) is a town in the Košice Region of Slovakia. The town is located southeast of the High Tatras in the Spiš region, and lies on both banks of the Hornád River. It is the biggest tow ...

Poprad Poprad (; hu, Poprád; german: Deutschendorf) is a city in northern Slovakia at the foot of the High Tatra Mountains, famous for its picturesque historic centre and as a holiday resort. It is the biggest town of the Spiš region and the ten ...

Vajnory Vajnory is a small borough in the northeast of Bratislava, Slovakia. Milan Rastislav Štefánik international airport is located near Vajnory. Another airport - Vajnory Airport, which was the first airport in Slovakia - closed in 2006. Histor ...

near

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

and

Trenčín Trenčín (, also known by other alternative names) is a city in western Slovakia of the central Váh River valley near the Czech border, around from Bratislava. It has a population of more than 55,000, which makes it the eighth largest municip ...

, but they kept a large area in central Slovakia with Tri Duby airfield (today called

Sliač Airport Sliač Airport or, historically, ''Letisko Tri Duby'' (literally, "The Three Oaks Airport") is a military airport in central Slovakia situated between the towns of Zvolen and Banská Bystrica and near the spa town of Sliač. The airport has one ...

) and a temporary airstrip near Zolná. All military aircraft of the resistance air force formed a reconnaissance-bomber unit, called the Combined Squadron. It consisted of four

Avia B-534 The Avia B-534 is a Czechoslovak biplane developed and manufactured by aviation company Avia. It was produced during the period between the First World War and the Second World War. The B-534 was perhaps one of the most well-known Czechoslovakia ...

biplane fighters, three older

Letov Š-328 Letov can refer to: * Letov Kbely, a Czech (and Czechoslovak) aircraft company * Yegor Letov (1964–2008), Russian punk rock musician, leader of the band Grazhdanskaya Oborona * Sergey Letov Sergey Fyodorovich Letov (russian: Серге́й Ф� ...

light bombers, and two obsolete Bf 109E-4. They were later reinforced by two other Bf 109G-6s and one

Focke-Wulf Fw 189 The Focke-Wulf Fw 189 ''Uhu'' ("Eagle Owl") is a Nazi Germany, German twin-engine, twin-boom, three-seat tactical Aerial reconnaissance, reconnaissance and Liaison aircraft, army cooperation aircraft. It first flew in 1938 (Fw 189 V1), entered s ...

, which escaped from eastern Slovakia to the Soviets in Poland, after the resistance armz in eastern Slovakia were surrounded and disarmed by Germans. Other aircraft reported to be in resistance hands were two

Klemm Kl 35 The Klemm Kl 35 is a German sporting and training aeroplane developed as a successor to the Kl 25. A product of Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau Gmbh it shared the same single-engine, cantilever low-wing configuration as the earlier machine, the major ...

, some

Heinkel He 72 The Heinkel He 72 ''Kadett'' ("Cadet") was a German single-engine biplane trainer of the 1930s. Development The ''Kadett'' was designed in 1933 to meet an official requirement for a basic trainer. It was a single-bay biplane of fabric-covered ...

Kadett and two

Savoia-Marchetti SM.84 The Savoia-Marchetti SM.84, not to be confused with the Savoia-Marchetti S.84 airliner prototype, was an Italian bomber aircraft of World War II. It was designed by Savoia-Marchetti as a replacement for its successful SM.79, and shared its thr ...

medium bombers, captured during combat. The resistance armz had trouble supplying their air force, especially ammunition for the German machine-guns of the Bf 109s. The

Soviets Soviet people ( rus, сове́тский наро́д, r=sovyétsky naród), or citizens of the USSR ( rus, гра́ждане СССР, grázhdanye SSSR), was an umbrella demonym for the population of the Soviet Union. Nationality policy in th ...

provided help for the uprising on 17 September 1944, when they moved the

1st Czechoslovak Fighter Air Regiment First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

under the command of Captain

František Fajtl Lieutenant General František Fajtl (20 August 1912 – 4 October 2006) was a Czech fighter pilot of World War II. He was a British Royal Air Force (RAF) squadron and wing commander and led a group of Czechoslovak fighter pilots who formed an ai ...

. This unit, flying the

Lavochkin La-5 The Lavochkin La-5 (Лавочкин Ла-5) was a Soviet fighter aircraft of World War II. It was a development and refinement of the LaGG-3, replacing the earlier model's inline engine with the much more powerful Shvetsov ASh-82 radial engine. ...

FN, consisted of skilled fighter pilots - in particular, Czechoslovak volunteers from the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

. Resistance pilots flew 923 sorties and destroyed 40 Axis planes. They also flew many reconnaissance flights and attacked ground targets. Air support activity in Slovakia at the end of 1944 was often disrupted by poor weather and low clouds, which made flights in mountainous central Slovakia very risky. Units provided air cover for the uprising from the Zolná and Tri Duby airfields until 25 October 1944. Finally, as the last airfield in insurgent hands, Tri Duby was threatened by artillery fire and the advance of German troops. As the uprising was overrun by the Germans at the end of October 1944, the commander-in-chief of the resistance army,

Rudolf Viest Rudolf Viest (24 September 1890, Revúca, Gömör és Kis-Hont County, Kingdom of Hungary, – 1945 ?, Flossenbürg concentration camp ?, Germany) was a Slovak military leader, member of the Czechoslovak government in exile, member of the Slova ...

, ordered the Air Force to withdraw from central Slovakia to airfields secured by Red Army in Poland. Most of the pilots joined the

1st Czechoslovak Combined Air Division First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and reco ...

, which took part in liberating Poland and Czechoslovakia at the beginning of 1945.

Members of Slovak Resistance Air Force

* Rudolf Božík *

František Cyprich František () is a masculine given name of Czechs, Czech origin. It is a cognate of Francis (given name), Francis, Francisco, François, and Franz (given name), Franz. People with the name include: *Frank Daniel (František Daniel) (1926–1996), ...

* Belo Kubica * Sava Poljanec * František Hanovec * Štefan Ocvirk * František Brezina * Imrich Štosel * Michal Ilovský * Jozef Modrovich

Aircraft related with Slovak Resistance Air Force

* Focke-Wulf Fw 189A-1 (1) * Messerschmitt Bf 109E-4 (2) * Messerschmitt Bf 109G-6 (2) * Avia B-534.IV (4) *

(3 examples) *

B-1 Kadett (various) *

D (2 examples) *

bis (2) *

Praga E-39 Praga E-39/BH-39 was a Czechoslovak trainer aircraft. History This aircraft was designed by Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn, engineers at the Czech aviation company ČKD-Praga in 1931. It flew for the first time in June of that year. The biplan ...

References

{{reflist

Resistance Resistance may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Comics * Either of two similarly named but otherwise unrelated comic book series, both published by Wildstorm: ** ''Resistance'' (comics), based on the video game of the same title ** ''T ...

Slovak National Uprising Military history of Czechoslovakia during World War II C Irregular military air services Military units and formations established in 1944 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945