Jaroslav Šrámek
{{EngvarB|date=March 2014}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox military person
|honorific_prefix = Colonel
|name=Jaroslav Šrámek
|birth_date= {{Birth date|df=y|1929|5|3}}
|death_date={{Death date and age|df=y|2015|2|16|1929|5|3}}
|birth_place=
|death_place=
|image=File:Jaroslav Šrámek.jpg
|caption=
|nickname=
|allegiance=Czechoslovakia
|branch=Czechoslovak Air Force
|serviceyears=1951–89
|rank=Colonel
|commands=
|battles=Air battle over Merklín
|awards=
|laterwork=
}}
Colonel Jaroslav Šrámek (3 May 1929 – 16 February 2015){{Cite web|title=Pilot Jaroslav Šrámek nás opustil|url=http://csletci.ipraxe.com/view.php?cisloclanku=2015020005|publisher=Airmen Association of the Czech Republic|language=cs|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150223123904/http://csletci.ipraxe.com/view.php?cisloclanku=2015020005|archive-date=23 February 2015}} was a fighter pilot, active during the Cold War. He was known as the only pilot from the Czechoslovak Air Force ever to have shot down an enemy jet-propelled plane.{{cite web|url=http://www.ceskatelevize.cz/ct24/domaci/192243-piloty-nerozdeli-ani-politicke-ideje-spojuje-je-vasen-k-letani/|title=Piloty nerozdělí ani politické ideje, spojuje je vášeň k létání|website=ČT24|publisher=Czech Television|date=15 August 2012|access-date=2 March 2014}} Šrámek flew more than 2,000 operational hours during his career, which spanned from 1951 to 1989.
Biography
Šrámek had an interest in aviation from a young age, making model aircraft as a child. Entering high school, he attended the Czechoslovak Air Force Academy, a move which began his career in aviation.{{Cite web|url=http://www.rozhlas.cz/radiozurnal/publ_izurnal/_zprava/135427|title=Stíhací pilot, který si na chleba vydělával ve vzduchu|website=Czech Radio|date=3 October 2004|access-date=2 March 2014|language=cs}} Later in his career, Šrámek became the first Czechoslovak to fly the MiG-23. He flew in the Czechoslovak Air Force until the 1980s, where he piloted MiG-23 aircraft. Šrámek described the MiG-23 as the best aircraft he had flown, because "it was the fastest".{{Cite news|url=http://technet.idnes.cz/jaroslav-sramek-pilot-06c-/tec_reportaze.aspx?c=A120817_171311_tec_reportaze_top|title=Před 59 lety sestřelil americkou stíhačku, teď usedl do gripenu|newspaper=Mladá fronta Dnes|date=22 August 2012|access-date=2 March 2014|language=cs}} Šrámek ended his career with a total of 2,353 flight hours.
=Air battle over Merklín=
{{main|Air battle over Merklín}}
On 10 March 1953, Lt. Šrámek (5th Fighter Regiment, 2nd Squadron, Plzeň-Líně air base) had been flying close to the town of Domažlice in the west of Bohemia.{{Cite web|url=http://www.radio.cz/en/section/curraffrs/czech-fighter-pilot-recalls-cold-war-dogfight|title=Czech fighter pilot recalls Cold War dogfight|work=Radio Prague|date=4 October 2004|accessdate=2 March 2014}} His unit was assigned to patrol the edge of Czechoslovak airspace, close to the frontier with West Germany. Šrámek, who was flying a MiG-15, encountered two American F-84 Thunderjet planes above Merklín, a small village within Czechoslovak territory. The two American aircraft split and one escaped. The remaining craft was piloted by Lt. Warren G. A. Brown, a veteran of the Korean War. No missiles were fired; Šrámek fired two cannon shots. The American plane sustained two hits, with the second one, from the N-37 cannon, causing a fire to break out. Brown ejected from the aircraft, which crash-landed in German territory, near Falkenstein, Bavaria, approximately {{convert|35|km|mi|0}} from the border, and survived.
References
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Category:Military personnel of the Cold War