Kbely military air base to display Russian aircraft? Some soldiers opposed
The military air base in Prague-Kbely is planning to establish a new memorial featuring a Russian/Soviet Yakovlev Yak-40 aircraft. A petition opposing the idea has been initiated by soldiers, who advocate for showcasing a Czech aircraft instead.
The Czech army flew with the Russian machine from the 1980s until 2020, but the idea of building a memorial with a Russian aircraft was conceived in 2019.
Some soldiers have signed a petition against it. According to its author, Lieutenant Commander Jiří Burda, the symbol of the base should be a Czech aircraft, specifically the proposed L-410 Turbolet, which the army still flies.
Burda, who has been stationed in Kbely for nine years, shared with Czech Radio his reasons for initiating the petition:
"I am a soldier of the Czech Republic and I would imagine a Czech aircraft in front of my base, not a Russian, French, or American one. And I can't imagine that in other NATO countries, there would be a different aircraft than that country's if it had sufficient capacity to produce its aircraft."
Štěpán Toth, a civilian employee who has worked at the Kbely base as a technician for nearly 30 years and also signed the petition, shares Burda's views:
"Why should we present a Russian plane nowadays when we have a Czech plane here? What we could do is to present our Czech manufacturer.”
The base commander, General Jaroslav Falta, stands behind the project he took over from his predecessor.
General Staff spokeswoman Magdalena Dvořáková, added that the leadership of the Ministry of Defence and the army agreed with the plan:
"The idea arose spontaneously among the soldiers. The base did not have – and still does not have – any of its former equipment on display, as is the case at other Czech Army bases. This particular exhibit was available and reconstructed."
The particular machine they are planning to exhibit in Kbely went to the collection of the Military Historical Institute after it was decommissioned and was restored in 2020-2021.
It is not clear how much support the petition has among soldiers. Burda claims it is in the dozens. The commander of the base says that only six people have signed the petition.
Burda and General Falta disagree, however, on whether the petition is displayed at the base, and whether more signatures can be added. According to the author of the petition, this is not the case, and some of the signature sheets have even disappeared.
"I was told verbally by the General that no one would stop me. Subsequently, the base's lawyer told me to shred the petition and let it disappear from the base. He then said that if I went through the official channels, the petition could be displayed at the base. Then the general told me that I had to go through the written official route."
Then on Monday, November 25, Burda received a letter in the mail with instructions on where he could post the petition. As late as Friday, 22 November, General Falta told RFA that the petition was already available to all soldiers.
