DND photo.

One of 412 Squadron's Comet aircraft stops at the Azores for fuel and servicing during a training flight from Ottawa to Marville, France. This trip is expected to become a regular schedule run in the near future. DND photo.

DND photo.

DND photo.

L-39CM 5301 of the Slovak Air Force, commemorating sqn ldr Otto Smik, who was killed over The Netherlands in WW 2.

This aircraft wears markings to commemorate Otto Smik, a Czechoslovakian RAF pilot in WWII after whom the Tactical Wing at Sliac has been named. Smik was a fighter ace who shot down more than 10 German aircraft after being shot down himself when attacking German aircraft on the ground at Gilze-Rijen AB, Netherlands on 3 September 1944. With the help of Dutch resistance, he managed to return to his unit. On 28 November 1944 he was killed when his Spitfire was hit by German fire during an attack on a railway area in Zwolle, Netherlands.

This Fishbed-J served with the Czechoslovak and Czech AF from 1972 until 2001. It was then sold to and stored at the Excalibur surplus clearing facility in Přelouč before becoming part of the Vojenské muzeum Králíky (Kraliky Military Museum). The tail section has been refurbished and is on display in the main hall of the museum. This fuselage section is stored at the back of the museum.

This Comet was built as a 1A and delivered to the RCAF during March 1953. This example was one of four frames that were upgraded to a 1XB standard (Sept. 57) with a reinforced fuselage structure and oval windows. During March 1964 she was wfu and subsequently broken up so that only the nose has survived at the Canada Aviation Museum.

A classy tribute to Otto Smik. Born in Soviet Georgia to a Slovak father and a Russian Jewish mother, Smik fought in the RAF during WWII. Flying Spitfire Mk.XVI RR227, he was killed in an attack against a railway yard in Zwolle, Netherlands on 28 November 1944.