One comes to the aero club for flying, not for doing politics
Download image
Oldřich Kovářík was born on July 3, 1922. His father worked for the railroad company and his mother was taking care of the children and their small farm. The family lived near the train station Pilsen-Valcha. Oldřich was growing up with a view of the airfield of the West Bohemian Aero Club and airplanes became his lifelong passion. When he was fourteen years old, he became a full-fledged member of the club. However, his efforts at obtaining a pilot licence, from which he was only the required number of flight hours away, were marred when the airfield became occupied by the wehrmacht in 1939. Oldřich completed apprenticeship as a machine repairman in the Škoda factory. In 1942, the company “lent” him together with other 180 qualified workers to the factory Karl Schmidt in Neckarsulm near Heilbronn which produced pistons for aircraft engines. Oldřich and his two friends illegally travelled through a great portion of Germany. At the end of April 1945 Oldřich escaped for the second and last time and he headed home. On May 5, together with his father, brother and several friends they went to make order at the Pilsen City Hall. However, the German officials had been already chased away from there and Oldřich signed up as a member of the army unit called 1st assistance wing. At first they had to obtain arms and then he served as a sentry at the gate of the Bory barracks in Pilsen. In the afternoon of May 7 he was on board of one of two busses of volunteers who went to support the Prague Uprising and he took part in fighting against SS units. After their return to Pilsen they discovered that their unit had been renamed Airport Wing of the 1st Czechoslovak Air Force Unit in Pilsen. They took over the administration of the airfield and depots. They were providing services for flight operations of the US air forces. In summer 1945 Oldřich took an oath as a soldier of the basic military service and he started studying at the air force academy in Chrudim, but his assignment was shortened and thus he was prevented from reaching his ultimate goal, which was obtaining the pilot licence. He returned to the Škoda factory, but soon after he received a job offer to work in the West Bohemian Aero Club. Oldřich managed to convince the officials in the labour office to discharge him from the factory which demanded hundreds of new skilled craftsmen. Oldřich became one of the flight technicians and pilots of the club. However, he refused to become a member of the Communist Party, and he was therefore dismissed after a political screening together with sixty other long-term members. He loved airplanes and flying, and in 1953 he and several of his friends therefore rejoined the club, which was administered by the organization Svazarm at that time. In 1973 he became employed in the Škoda factory. However, a short time later he began suffering from serious problems with his eyes and in 1975 he had to retire with a disability allowance as a result thereof. Oldřich Kovářík died on June 26, 2022.
