Lavochkin La-5, Czechoslovak users

 

The Lavochkin La-5 was also employed by Czechoslovakia. The first Czech unit to be equipped with the La-5 was the 1st Czechoslovak Fighter Regiment (1st CS.IAP) of the Soviet Air Force (VVS) which was formed in late May 1944 in Moscow, by former RAF Czechoslovak pilots. 
The 1st CS.IAP was formed at Ivanovo and Kubinka air bases, and, after taking some formation with the La-5UTI (the two-seater trainer variant of the La-5) by June 1944 it was declared as combat ready. 
During the Slovak National Uprising, Jan Golian (leader of the Slovak rebels) asked the USSR for help, so the VVS sent the 1st CS.IAP which was stationed at Proskurov airfield, near Lviv, in the Ukrainian SSR. On 17th September 1944 they were rebased to Zolna airfield and, by 18th September they were already in action as they attacked the Luftwaffe base in Piest'any (Bratislava) destroying various enemy fighters. Shortly later, on the 20th they also attacked the Malacky-Novy-Dvor air base destroying more Luftwaffe aircraft to prevent them from intercepting American bombers of the 15th Air Force. Those attacks took the Germans by surprise, so they had to move both Schlachtgeschwader 77 and Jagdgeschwader 52 from southern Poland and Hungary respectively to fight against 1st CS.IAP.  During the Slovak National Uprising they provided aerial support by attacking German artillery positions and strafing ground troops, having to overcome the unsuitability of the La-5FN for the ground support as it lacked armour. 
When the uprising failed and the Germans retook the Slovak land, the 1st CS.IAP escaped back to Soviet lines. It was during this period that the unit flew a total of 573 sorties and destroyed 13 enemy aircraft with ten casualties. 
The unit was transferred to the newly created 1st Czechoslovak Independent Combined Air Division on 25th January 1945 and it served during the Soviet advances in southern Poland and Czechoslovakia providing aerial support to the 4th Ukrainian Front. 
After spending some time at Przemysl airfield the 1st CS.IAP was transferred to Poremba airfield from where they took off in their last mission escorting a formation of eight Il-2 Shturmovik attack planes bombing the village of Olza, in southern Poland. 
There was a second Czechoslovak Fighter Regiment undergoing training, but the war in Europe ended before their training could be completed. 

After the war, the Czechoslovak Air Force (CAF) was re-founded with, among many others, 31 La-5FN and La-5UTI fighters and trainers respectively, making Czechoslovakia, the only foreign user of the La-5.
The La-5FN was designated as 'S-95' in CAF service and the type had to be constantly overhauled as they were phased out in the USSR back in 1945. In July 1946 a group of Soviet specialists declared all but two La-5 non-airworthy and directed the fighters to be scrapped, discarding the order for an additional force of 60 La-7 (the successor of the La-5) to be delivered. 
After a further inspection by the CAF and the Czechoslovak Scientific Aviation Institute,  the La-5 were declared mostly flyable, except for aerobatics purposes. However, on static tests carried out on both La-5FN and  La-5UTIs, the wooden parts showed signs of exhaustion and so, every La plane was grounded on 13th December 1946.
Anyway, after further inspection, it turned out that the wooden airframe and other parts, were already counted in their calculations, so, during 1947 the La-5 was admitted again into the CAF. By 1st July 1948 the CAF had 23 La-5FN and LA-5UTI in strength but, by late 1948 the type was already being withdrawn from service. 
The last official unit to employ the La-5FN and La-5UTI was the Bezpecnostní letectvo, the aerial branch of the SNB (Czechoslovak National Police which existed from 1945 to 1991). 

Sources:

1st Signal Squadron - Aircraft In Action 169 - La5-7 Fighters in Action
2nd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1st_Czechoslovak_Fighter_Air_Regiment

3rd https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sbor_národní_bezpečnosti 

4th https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bezpečnostní_letectvo (translated)

Morane-Saulnier Ms.230, foreign users, part one.

 

The Morane-Saulnier Ms.230 was a French military elementary trainer aircraft that was used by France, but by another countries too:

• Belgium: During the early years of the Belgian Aéronautique Militaire (Military Aeronautics), they saw themselves in the need of an advanced aeronautic basic trainer. That's why they bought 5 or 6 (numbers change depending on the source) Ms.230 from France, back in 1931.
  As the type satisfied Belgian authorities, they ordered additional 19 machines, this time powered by a single Armstrong Whitworth Lynx 4C radial engine which yielded 215 hp of power. This engine was slightly less powerful than the original Salmson 9AB with its 230 hp. 
  These new machines were branded as Morane-Saulnier Ms.236 and were manufactured by SABCA in Brussels. The engine switch was chosen for communality as the Lynx was already powering other Aéronautique Militaire airplanes such as the SV.22, SV.26, RSV 22/215, Avro 626 Prefect and, the Avro 504N, albeit it had a less powerful version. Most Ms.230 and 236 were employed by piloting school at Wevelgem, and by 1937 all every Ms.230 had been withdrawn from service. The remaining Ms.236 were kept active until the eve of the World War 2. However, many of them were used as communications aircraft in 1939-1940. 
• Brazil: Apparently Brazil had an unknown number of Ms.230. Some sources claim it was nine of them. However, we couldn't find graphical info, nor textual one, so the drawing shown below should be considered as speculative.
• Czechoslovakia: After World War 2, many ex-Luftwaffe (which acquired them as was prizes) Ms.230 were employed by private aeroclubs in Czechoslovakia, one of them was Medlánky Aeroclub, located in the city of Brno. They used the type from 1948 until 1957. Nowadays there's one Ms.230 shown at the Prague's Aviation museum painted in French colours.
• Germany: During the late 1930s some private German owners owned at least 5 Ms.230 as their private airplanes. After the fall of France, many Ms.230 were captured by the Germans, which pushed them into service in their elementary flying schools. Apparently they were used during the whole World War 2.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Morane-Saulnier_MS.230

2. https://www.belgian-wings.be/morane-ms230-ms236

3.http://www.airhistory.org.uk/gy/reg_D-a16.html

4.http://www.historyofwar.org/articles/weapons_morane_saulnier_MS230.html

5. https://alchetron.com/Morane-Saulnier-MS.230

6. http://www.cs-letectvi.cz/imatrikulace/morane-saulnier-ms-230-ok-qhl-id-b4271 (translated)

Junkers Ju.52/3m, Croatian, Czechoslovak and Danish users

 

The Junkers Ju.52/3m is a German cargo airplane that was produced since 1931 until 1952, since 1945 under foreign manufacturers though.

It comes no surprise that it was used by a wide variety of countries as it was very sturdy, versatile and easy to fly. Some of those countries that employed the type were the following ones:

• Independent State of Croatia: As an organic part of the Luftwaffe, the Croatian Air Force Legion, had at one moment at least one Ju.52/3m registered in January 1944. It seems that previously there were three of them which were used to transport personnel of the 15 (Kroat)/KG.3. The drawing should be considered as speculative because we couldn't find any graphical evidence of a Ju.52 serving with the Croatian Air Force Legion.
• Czechoslovakia: Just after the War, the airline Ceskoslovenské Letecka Spolecnost briefly operated the type by flying a Ju.52/3m to Bromma airport, in Sweden, on 1st February 1946.
  On 1st March 1946 CSA (Czechoslovak Airlines) resumed aerial operations with a fleet of, among other types, three Ju.52/3m (refurbished by Letov) and two Amiot AAC.1 (some sources claim it was three) transferred from the Czechoslovak Air Force between 1946 and 1948. This airline kept scheduled flights from Prague to various destinations all around Europe like Amsterdam, Belgrade, Berlin, Brussels, London Paris, Stockholm, Strasbourg and Warsaw, with many internal destinations like Bratislava, Karlovy Vary and Kosice. 
  One Ju.52/3m crashed when landing in Prague on 5th March 1946, killing ten of the fifteen total people on board, when operating a Paris-Strasbourg-Prague service. 
  After the communist coup in Czechoslovakia, in 1948, CSA was nationalised, so the whole country passed to the Soviet sphere of influence, making the Ju.52/3m and AAC.1s to be eventually replaced by the Lisunov Li-2 and surplus Douglas DC-3 supplied by Soviet authorities.
  Another Czechoslovak users of the Ju.52/3m was the Bata Shoe Company (headquartered in Zlin) which briefly operated a pair of AAC.1s to transport goods and materials between their factories. When the company was nationalised in 1948, the AAC.1s were passed on to the Czechoslovak Police Air Force. Eventually those two Amiot were sold back to France on 17th March 1951.
• Denmark: Det Danske Luftfartselskab (Danish Airlines - DDL) had one Ju.52/3m in property. This aircraft was acquired, with American-built Pratt & Whitney engines, on 8th August 1936 and was nicknamed as "Selandia". It suffered several accidents during 1937 and 1938, when flying regular flights from Copenhagen to various destinations, so a second one was leased from Deutsche Lufthansa. At the outbreak of World War 2, "Selandia" was ready again and resumed operations, this time with big Danish flags painted, as neutrality markings. When Germany occupied Denmark, in April the whole DDL fleet was parked, where it remained until operations were partially resumed in June, after the fall of France. On 18th December 1942 "Selandia" was lost to an accident when landing at Aspern, in Vienna.
  After the War, on 18th July 1945, one Ju.52/3m was leased by DDL, however, due to poor technical conditions of the airplane, it was returned three weeks later. Later, three Ju.52/3m were handled by the RAF to the Dannish Government with the intentions of incorporating them to the DDL's fleet, although eventually only one of them entered service. This Ju.52/3m was nicknamed as "Uffe Viking" and was used on the Copenhagen-Ronne, in the island of Bornholm as the small airfield of the island wasn't adequate to operate the Douglas DC-3. 
  The other two Ju.52/3m remained unused and were returned to the Danish Government in December 1948 which allocated them for firefighting practices in Kastrup. "Uffe Viking" was used until 4th February 1948, when it was stored at Kastrup awaiting a possible buyer. It was eventually bought by the Swedish company Aero Trafik on 23rd August 1950 and ferried to Sweden three weeks later.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Junkers_Ju_52_operators

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czech_Airlines

3. https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/České_aerolinie (translated)

4. Fonthill Media - The Junkers Ju.52 Story
5. https://hrvatskoobrambenostivo.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/the-croatian-air-force-in-the-second-world-war.pdf

6. https://military.wikireading.ru/26850 (translated)

Avia XLE-10 & Letov XLA-54

 

After the World War 2 and the creation of the proclamation of the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic in 1948, every Czechoslovak aviation firm was nationalised. 

It was then when the Czechoslovak Ministry of Defence issued a specification for a trainer to replace the outdated Aero C-2, which was a copy of the German Arado Ar.96. Two companies took part in this contest, Letov with the XLA-54 and Avia with the XLE-10. 

The Avia XLE-10 was designed by the engineer Tomás and two identical prototypes were built. The first prototype flew for the first time in July 1950 and, although initially it was planned to be powered by a new M-446 V-12 engine, it wasn't yet available so it was fitted with a M-411 (a Czechoslovak copy of the German Argus As.411) which produced 572 hp of power. 

As it was intended for the combat trainer role, it was armed with a single 7.92 mm MG 17 machine gun placed in the nose, at the right side and could carry a total of 145 kg (319,67 lb) of underwing bombs. After testing flights against the Letov XLA-54, the Avia XLE-10 was chosen as the best option, though both aircraft had identical flying characteristics albeit if the XLE-10 was slightly better in some aspects, so the XLA-54 was scrapped. After those tests, the M-446 engine was ready and, after being re-engined, it took off again on 10th August 1951. Subsequent tests were successful and even a production order for 110 aircraft was placed. However, on 11th December, during one of further test flights, the plane crashed killing, unfortunately, both of its pilots. This serious accident damaged Avia's prestige and the project was closed with the Soviet Yakovlev Yak-11 being chosen as the main trainer for the Czechoslovak Air Force.

On the other side, the Letov XLA-54 was designed and developed by engineer Matznera who based the aircraft on the L-154 design. Just like the XLE-10, it was going to be powered by the M-446 engine, but as it was running short on supplies, the initial powerplant it was fitted with was the M-411. It was also armed with a single 7.92 mm MG 17 machine gun placed in the right side of the nose and could carry a total of 140 kg (308,647 lb) of underwing bombs. The first (and only) prototype flew for the first time on 5th June 1950 and, as the XLE-54 lost against its most direct competitor, the XLA-10, the XLA-54 was scrapped in 1951.

Sources:

1. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other/xle10.html (translated)

2. http://www.airwar.ru/enc/other/xla54.html (translated)

3. https://www.armedconflicts.com/Letov-XLA-54-t8972

4. https://www.armedconflicts.com/Avia-XLE-110-t8962

Arado Ar.96/Avia C.2 Czechoslovak users

 

The Arado Ar.96 was a German single-engined low-wing monoplane made entirely out of metal which was produced not only by Arado Flugzeugwerke, but also by other companies under license. 

One of those was the Czechoslovak Avia which, from 1940 until April 1945 manufactured the type at their factories in the Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia (the German-occupied Czech country) together with another Czech airplane manufacturer like Letov. 

As the war ended, many were put into service with the newly re-established Czechoslovak Air Force and, as the type was kept under manufacture after the war with the name of Avia C-2 (numbers show that between August 1945 - when the production line was set up again- and 1950 -when production of the Avia C-2 came to an end- four hundred and twenty six exemplars were manufactured at Avia's factories only. The C-2 was produced in two sub-variants, an unarmed one (C-2) and an armed one (C-2B). The armed variant was equipped with an MG 17 placed at the right side of the engine, had underwing bomb racks for a total of 70 kg (155 lb) of  bombs. Both variants were powered by the Argus 410A engine which powered the original German ones and they were also produced in Czechoslovakia after the war. 

As many of the original Ar.96 were put into use with the Czechoslovak Air Force after the war, and the type was also manufactured massively there after the war, it comes no surprise that it was the main trainer of the Czechoslovak Air Force during the post-war period. They were found to be fully suitable for the basic and advanced trainer roles but also for bomb and night-flying training. 

Thanks to their good flying characteristics, they were also used by the Czechoslovak National Security Corps which employed them more than once during the early 1950s to shot down ballons containing propaganda leaflets. They were also exported to Hungary and Bulgaria.

The C-2 were used by the Czechoslovak Air Force's academy until 12th December 1955 when, they were gradually withdrawn from service and replaced by the Soviet-made Yakovlev Yak-11. The last C-2 was used at Letnany air base in 1958 as a tow airplane.

Sources: 

1. https://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arado_Ar_96 (translated)

2. https://www.valka.cz/Arado-Ar-96-t54856 (translated)

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19, Czechoslovak users

The Czechoslovak Air Force's combat potential was strongly boosted by the addition of the MiG-19P, MiG-19PM and the MiG-19S which were shown to their top commanders at Kubinka Air Base, in the USSR during late 1956. A deal was signed a year later thanks to which the type was supplied and licensed produced within Czechoslovak borders.
On 11th July 1957 the first group of Czechoslovak pilots and technicians went to the PVO's (Soviet Air Force) main conversion training centre at the time, located at Savasleyka Air Base, in the USSR, close to the city of Gorky (nowadays Nizhny Novgorod) where a manufacturing plant for the MiG-19 was.
In this initial group was Valstimil David, who was Aero's main test pilot, which received the license to locally produce the MiG-19S. Another component of the Czechoslovak group was Maj. Július Zvara who was appointed "customer's inspector" on the Gorky's Aircraft Factory delivery line and test flew every aircraft destined for Czechoslovakia. On 30th August 1957 Maj. Zvara reached the speed of Mach 1.4 (1.728,72 km/h - 1.074,18 mph) while flying a MiG-19P, becoming this way the first Czechoslovak pilot to break the sound barrier.
Later that same year, the first batch of 12 MiG-19S was delivered to Prague Kbely Air Base in crates. After being reassembled and test flown at the Kbely overhaul plant, all of them were delivered to the Czechoslovak Air Force between the 3rd and the 27th January 1958, with a single aircraft more which was delivered later and served as the pattern for the Aero S-105.
At the same time, 26 additional MiG-19Ps arrived at Prague Kbely and entered service between 27th January and 1st April 1958. All aircraft from those two shipments were assigned to the 1. stihaci letecký pluk (SLP - Fighter Aircraft Regiment) 'Zvolenský" which was based at Ceské Budejovice and the 11. SLP based at Zatec Air Base, both regiments being part of the 3. stihaci letecka divizie (SLD - 3rd Fighter Aircraft Division).
The licensed-built Aero S-105 was manufactured at Stredoceske strojírny, in Odolena Voda, from early 1958 (though some sources claim it was during late 1957 - something which we think it's not possible) until November 1961 and, with 104 exemplars manufactured, it equipped the whole 1. SLD which comprised the 4. SLP, based at Pardubice Air Base and began MiG-19 operations on 22nd March 1958, the 5. SLP based at Plzen-Line Air Base and the 9. SLP at Bechyne Air Base. It's thought that some few S-105s were exported to Egypt, albeit it's not confirmed.
The 40 MiG-19PMs ordered by the Czechoslovak Air Force started to arrive in late 1959. They were assembled and flown again between 17th November 1959 and 24th February 1961. These aircraft were also the longest serving MiG-19s with the Czechoslovak Air Force as they were retired on 2nd June 1972. Initially, the MiG-19PMs and their missiles, the RS-2-US air-to-air missiles were so secret and carefully guarded that even regimental commissioned officers could barely gain access to the hangars where missiles were stored.
Every MiG-19PM was assigned to the 5. SLP which became the last operator for the MiG-19 of every type in the Czechoslovak Air Force, collecting MiG-19s of all variants from other units as they were replaced by newer types. The last surviving MiG-19PMs not scrapped on site, were transferred to the Czechoslovak Air Force's reserve and moved to other bases.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-19#Variants

2. Midland Publishing - Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-19. The Soviet Union's First Production Supersonic Fighter

3. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

4. https://www.valka.cz/Mikojan-Gurevic-MiG-19S-kod-NATO-Farmer-C-t12470

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17PF, part three, European Users 2

With almost 700 machines manufactured, the MiG-17PF was exported to most (if not every) countries inside the Warsaw Pact. In many of these it was the first radar-equipped jet fighter. According to our sources, 698 machines were manufactured between 1954 and 1956 alone at Aerial Factories number 21 and 31 located at Gorky and Tblisi respectively. Among the various users the MiG-17PF served with, apart from those we posted in the first part (or part two, depending on your way of counting) are the following ones:

• Bulgaria: In 1955 the Bulgarian People's Air Force received a batch of MiG-17F and PFs. They served for a long time alongside the more advanced MiG-19, until the late 1970s when they were replaced by the MiG-21 and MiG-23. In fact, by 1989 there wasn't any MiG-17 of any kind in active role with the Bulgarian Air Force.
• Czechoslovakia: The Czechoslovak Air Force bought some few MiG-17PF from the USSR and got them into service. They also obtained a license to manufacture it locally under the designation of Aero S-104. We didn't find exact numbers of the production of the S-104, but they were manufactured at Aero Vodochody, in Prague, from 1956 until at least 1962 (if not later). They served until the very late 1970s when they were replaced by more modern types.
• East Germany: In 1956, with the creation of the Air Forces of the National People's Army, the MiG-17PF was supplied to the NVA (Nationale Volksarmee). It was, together with the regular MiG-17F the main bulk of the NVA fighter force. The PFs served alongside more advanced types like the MiG-19 until being replaced by more advanced types in the fighter role, namely the MiG-21 or the MiG-23.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Forces_of_the_National_People%27s_Army

5. https://www.valka.cz/Mikojan-Gurevic-MiG-17PF-kod-NATO-Fresco-D-t44624

6. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-17F, part six, various European users

The MiG-17F was the main fighter of many Warsaw Pact Users, among them, the following ones:

• Bulgaria: During the mid-to-late 1950s, the People's Republic of Bulgaria was supplied with batches of the newest Soviet jet fighters. The MiG-17F was active in the Bulgarian People's Army Air Force through the 1960s until the 1970s when it was withdrawn following a modernization period of the Bulgarian Air Force.
• Czechoslovakia: Some few MiG-17F served with the Czechoslovak Air Force before being locally produced as the Aero S-104. One of them was the personal aircraft of Gen. Jozef Kúkel who was the commander in chief of the 10th Air Army. Further details are unknown.
• East Germany: In 1956 the Soviet Union provided the newly established East German Air Force with many jet fighters and bombers, among them the MiG-17F. It served as their main interceptor/fighter until 1962 when the MiG-21 was introduced. After that, some of them were modified with added pylons to attach either bombs or rocket launchers. These modified machines were commonly known as the East German fighter-bomber and, while some of them were kept in active until the late 1980s, most of them were sold to African countries like Mozambique.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-17

2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bulgarian_Air_Force

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_Forces_of_the_National_People%27s_Army

5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI, part nine, Czechoslovak users and versions

The MiG-15UTI was also produced in some Eastern bloc countries. One of them was Czechoslovakia, which named them "Aero CS-102".
Back in the early 1950s an agreement was reached between the USSR and Czechoslovakia to manufacture the plane locally.
Production was undertaken by Aero Vodochody n.p. located in the town of Odolena Voda, close to Prague. Production started in July 1954 and lasted until January 1961 with 2013 exemplars having been manufactured.
It was an identical copy of the regular MiG-15UTI and therefore, it was powered by the Klimov RD-45F engine which gave 5005lb of thrust (22,26kN) and was armed with one 12.7mm (0.5in) UBK-E machine gun and could carry an additional 23mm (0.9in) NR-23 cannon placed under the nose. Additionally, it could carry up to 100 Kg (221lb) of bombs.
The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15UTI-P was a single MiG-15UTI modified by the 1.Letecká Divizní Opravna (1st Aircraft Repair Division - if google translator can be trusted) located at the town of Ceské Budejovice, in the southern Bohemian region. It was unarmed and powered by the same Klimov RD-45F engine but it was equipped with the Izumrud RP-1 radar (which also equipped the MiG-17PF). The goal was to create an trainer aircraft with radar training capabilities. However, as the Aero L-29 was already rolling out of the factory, the project was deemed as unnecesary and redundant and was, therefore, discarded.

Sources:
1. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/22676
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/12489
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis - Czechoslovak users

As Czechoslovakia became one of the USSR satellite countries, since the communist coup d'etat of 1948, their air force had been receiving Soviet made material since that year.
Therefore, during the years following the coup d'etat, both army and air force underwent several reforms and purges.
One of those, rather radical, reforms, fall back onto the air force as, in 1951 the 1st 2nd and 3rd Air Defence Districts of State territory were created, as well as the 15th Fighter Air Corps, which was equipped, almost entirely with either MiG-15, MiG-15bis or their Czechoslovak copies, Aero S-102 (which has already been covered in a previous post) and Aero S-103 (the Czechoslovak copy of the MiG-15bis) because, since 1948, they were replacing their fighters like the locally built Avia S.99 (a local copy of the Messerschmitt Bf.109G with a new engine), Supermarine Spitfires or De Havilland Mosquitoes.
The 15th Air Fighter Corps was comprised of 1st, 3rd, 5th and 166th Fighter Air Divisions. This last one, the 166th, became, in the late 1950s the 2nd Fighter Air Division.
The Aero S-103 was the license-built copy of the Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15bis. It was manufactured by Aero Vodochody n.p., at Odolena Voda, Czechoslovakia, where around 620 exemplars were manufactured.
Both the MiG-15, the MiG-15bis and their Czechoslovak copies equipped the Air Force of Czechoslovakia from the early 1950s until the mid-to-late 1950s when they were replaced with the more capable MiG-17. Some of them were exported to Arab countries like Egypt and Syria where they saw action in the Suez Crisis. Some outdated MiG-15bis were retained by training units and used as advanced trainers, which could be identified by the blue bands painted on the fuselage.
In 1968 around 75 old MiG-15bis were reconverted into ground-attack airplanes, equipping them with either bombs or air-to-ground missiles. Some of these are known to have been sold to Iraq, which incorporated them into their air force in the early 1970s, however they didn't seem to be very successful since the available data about them is rather scarce. They were named as MiG-15bisSB.
One dogfight between two Czechoslovak Aero-103s and two American F-84E Thunderjet took place on 10th March 1953 over the village of Merklín, in the Czechoslovak Bohemian region when the Czechoslovak Air Force detected two American F-84E Thunderjet fighters flying above Czechoslovak soil. The Czech pilot Jaroslav Srámek shot down one American Republic F-84E Thunderjet belonging to the 53rd Fighter-Bomber Squadron, 36th Fighter-Bomber wing and repelled the other. The American pilot, Lt. Warren G. Brown, managed to eject from the aircraft which crash-landed in West-German territory, approximately 35km (22mi) from the border, and survived.

Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Air_Force
2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/53180
3. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/196279
4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15#Other_events
5. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Air_battle_over_Merklín
6. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 - Czechoslovak & Polish users (Aero/Letov S-102 & WSK Mielec Lim-1)

The Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15 served both with the Czechoslovak Air Force and with the Polish Air and Air Defence Forces of Country.

• Czechoslovakia: When the Czechoslovak Army was reformed after the 1948 communist Coup d'Etat, the country was supplied with Soviet fighters, mainly MiG and Lavochkin La-7s among some other bombers. They received licenses to manufacture the MiGs locally. They equipped their main fighter squadrons alongside with the locally-built variants.
• Poland: In 1951 the Polish Air and Air Defence Force received some MiG-15, together with a manufacturing license. They equipped the main Polish fighter squadrons and served together the locally produced variants.

The Czechoslovakians produced the MiG-15 under two firms, Rudý Letov, in Prague, which manufactured them from 6th November 1951 until July 1953 when their license was revoked and was passed on to Aero Vodochody, in Odolena Voda, close to Prague too. Between 1951 and July 1953 Letov manufactured 160 Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15s under the designation of Letov S-102. 

When Aero overtook overtook the production of the MiG-15 in July 1953, the MiG-15 was already being replaced in the USSR by the MiG-17 which a more refined version of the MiG-15 and they only manufactured it until 1954. However, during that period, they manufactured 661 MiG-15s under the designation of Aero S-102.

As by the mid 1950s there were many outdated MiG-15s in Czechoslovakia, the Czechoslovak government ordered a ground-attack conversion of many MiG-15s to the Letecké opravny Kbely s.p. in the Czechoslovak city of Kbely in 1958. Threfore, this company reinforced the wings of the standard MiG-15 to arm them with either LR-130 rocket launchers (plus external fuel tanks), LR-55 rockets or OFAB-100 bombs. One-hundred and fifty-four of them were converted from 1958 until the early 1960s. They were assigned to ground-support squadrons of the Czechoslovak Air Force during the early 1960s when they were replaced by better ground-attack types. 

The Polish license-built MiG-15s were manufactured by Wytwórnia Sprzetu Komunikacyjnego No.1, at the Polish city of Mielec commonly known as WSK-Mielec. They received the manufacturing license in 1951 and kept manufacturing them until 1st September 1954 when they switched production (also under license) toward the MiG-15bis. The Polish-built MiG-15s received the denomination of Lim-1 and 227 of them were manufactured. They served alongside the Polish MiG-15/Lim-2 (the Polish version of the MiG-15bis) in the main fighter squadrons of the Polish Air Force of the early-to-mid 1950s until they were replaced by the MiG-17.

Sources:

1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mikoyan-Gurevich_MiG-15

2. https://forum.valka.cz/topic/view/53179

3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Czechoslovak_Air_Force

4. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Polish_Air_Force

5. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters

Avia S-92

Considering that every jigs, tools and component required to manufacture the Me.262 were left behind in Czechoslovakia by the Germans, were seized by the Soviets and then handed back to Czechoslovak authorities by the Marshal Ivan Konev, it comes no surprise that the Me.262A1-a was manufactured in Czechoslovakia after the World War II.

More precisely, Me.262 fuselages had been produced in Letnany, some other components were built in converted railway tunnels and CKD and Walter Works had manufactured the Junkers Jumo 004 turbojet engine at Cheb, close to the German border.
That way, enough components were recovered and/or manufactured to build 17 single and two-seat Me.262, flying the first single-seater one on 27th August 1946, even if on 5th September it was lost in an accident. A second one, named as Avia S-92 first series, flew on 24th October and was followed by the first CS-92 (the two-seater trainer variant) on 10th December.
It was dubbed Turbina (Turbine) and the 7th aircraft of the CS variant was fitted with a BMW 003 turbojets, with 950kgp of thrust power. However the flight test weren't satisfactory so it fitted back to the standard Jumo engines. The eleventh and twelth aircrafts were completed during 1949 and the summer of 1950 to equip the 5th Fighter Squadron which was exclusively flying the Turbinas, however this unit was disbanded a year later and the S-92 were scrapped.

Sources:
1. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
2. http://www.military.cz/czech/air/avia/s92/default.htm (translated)