Air battle over Merklín

Air battle over Merklín
Part of Cold War

USAF Republic F-84E and MiG-15
Date10 March 1953
LocationMerklín, Czechoslovakia, Bohemian Forest
Result American F-84 fighter-bomber shot down
Belligerents
 Czechoslovakia  United States
Commanders and leaders
Czechoslovakia Jaroslav Šrámek United States Lt. Warren G. Brown
Strength
2 MiG-15 2 F-84 Thunderjet
Casualties and losses
none 1 F-84 shot down
Pilot survived

The Air battle over Merklín was an air-to-air engagement between Czechoslovak and USAFE air units over the Czech village of Merklín, in the Bohemian Forest, on 10 March 1953. During the action Czech pilot Jaroslav Šrámek, flying a MiG-15, shot down one of a pair of American F-84E Thunderjets (from 53rd Fighter Bomber Squadron, 36th Fighter-Bomber Wing). The American pilot, Lt. Warren G.Brown ejected from the aircraft, which crash-landed in German territory, approximately 35 kilometres (22 mi) from the border, and survived.[1][2]

It was reported in the London Times that the attack on the American aircraft was ten miles from the border near the town of Falkenstein, Bavaria.[3] The aircraft crashed near Regensburg, Bavaria and the burnt out wreckage of the F-84 was recovered by American soldiers.[3] The attack followed reports of other Czechoslovak aircraft over Bavarian territory. Brown, the pilot of the F-84, reported they were on a routine patrol along the border when they spotted two aircraft appear from the East, he was fired upon and bailed out after losing control.[3]

References

  1. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 23 October 2014. Retrieved 2014-12-24.
  2. ↑ Coilin O'Connor (2004-10-04). "Radio Prague - Czech fighter pilot recalls Cold War dogfight". Radio.cz. Retrieved 2017-05-19.
  3. 1 2 3 "The Shot-Down Thunderjet". The Times (52568). London. 12 March 1953. p. 5.

Sources

Coordinates: 49°33′38″N 13°11′52″E / 49.56056°N 13.19778°E / 49.56056; 13.19778

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.