Sunderland Mk.V (SH72162) – Standa Hajek boxart
Yesterday afternoon, a mailman appeared bringing us a large
cardboard envelope with another Standa Hajek’s masterpiece boxart. The picture
will adorn our 1/72 Sunderland Mk.V kit (SH72162) and shows SZ566/Z machine
flown by Vaclav Bergman in Singapore area during the Korea war when the Brits
were also engaged in Malaya fighting communist insurgent forces. Vaclav
Bergman, a Czech with DFC&Bar, fled his homeland Czechoslovakia twice, first
time after the Nazis had stormed and occupied Czechoslovakia, and after the war
because of the communist takeover. During the Second World War, he fought with
the RAF flying fighter aircraft. He was one of the Czechs who took part in the
Battle of Britain and in 1944 became the CO of No 313 Sqn RAF.
Having fled his home for the second time, he saw military
service on the Spitfire Mk.XIV and later while in Malaya and Korea he flew the
Sunderland. When his overseas deployment was over, he returned to the UK and
completed his military career as a Coastal Command Shackleton pilot. For his
service in Malaya and Korea, he received high military awards and became
also one of only two Czechs (the other being Karel Kuttelwascher, a Hurricane
night fighter ace) to be awarded with DFC twice.
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