Jaroslav Šrámek

Colonel Jaroslav Šrámek (3 May 1929 – 16 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. 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. Later in his career, Šrámek became the first Czechoslovak to fly the MiG-23. Šrámek ended his career with a total of 2,353 flight hours. 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 from the border, and survived.