Aviation Museum in Deštná
The exhibition of the Aviation Museum, created by members of the Aviation History Club (KHL) in Jindřichův Hradec, is located in the former cinema building in the town of Deštná and is divided into wartime and post-war sections. Several unique exhibits are on display.
The entrance hall and former cloakroom have been transformed into two separate sections, divided by a replica of an anti-aircraft shelter. Outside the shelter is an exhibition depicting the fates of Czechoslovak wartime pilots from the moment our soldiers left for Poland, then France, and eventually the United Kingdom. This period is illustrated through a variety of three-dimensional exhibits, including medals, uniforms, models, and fragments from wartime aircraft (such as parts from the B-24 Liberator "PP-Y" of the 311th Czechoslovak Squadron found on the Orkney Islands), as well as plastic models. The exhibition also commemorates Czechoslovak pilots who fought in the Slovak National Uprising and those returning from the East and West to the liberated homeland.
Undoubtedly unique in the Czech Republic is the "memorial room", which features a large photograph of the largest Czechoslovak military cemetery in Great Britain, located in Brookwood, along with lists of all our fallen wartime pilots and soil from their graves. This soil was collected by KHL members during thirteen expeditions across Europe.
Another part of the exhibition includes one of the museum's major highlights: an engine from a Messerschmitt Bf-109 (on loan from Ing. Dvořák), a fuselage fragment with cockpit from a Bf-109 (loaned by colleagues from Slavičín), and control rods from the La-5 FN aircraft of Lieutenant Bohumil Mráz, who was shot down on October 7, 1944, in Slovakia (donated by K. Červený).
In the second room, you will find numerous exhibits and documents illustrating both sporting and military Czechoslovak aviation from the First Republic up to recent times. Among the items on display are a Šohaj glider (on loan from the Jindřichův Hradec Aeroclub), fragments from MiG aircraft and their components (loaned by P. Pokorný and many other aviation enthusiasts), a Su-7 (a gift from the Czech Republic Air Base in Náměšť nad Oslavou), and finally, an exhibition commemorating the history of the 153rd Rescue Battalion in Jindřichův Hradec, a long-time partner of the KHL.
