The establishment of the Aero Club and the airport in Staňkov
After school, Josef Pavlík began working as a teacher. However, the career of a teacher wasn’t bringing him much satisfaction and thus he began devoting more and more time to his hobby - aviation. He spent all his spare time on activities associated with the restoration of the Aero Club and the airport in Staňkov. “I wasn’t the principle initiator of the establishment, but I was the representative of the Aero Club”. The general atmosphere prevailing in the recently liberated nation and the great pride in the accomplishments of the Czechoslovak aviators in England were conducive to a restoration of the airport. Fields which used to belong to the German minority in Staňkov were used for the runways. Two gliders were acquired from a nearby German hangar in Holýšov. Even the Czechoslovak army had an interest in the education of young pilots and therefore it supported the activities of the Aero Club and supplied it with more aircraft. Josef Pavlík began flying in 1946, taking the first flights on a ŠK-38 glider from a nearby hillside. Afterwards, he completed his training on a two-seater glider called “Jeřáb” (Crane). Other courses followed and gradually he gained gliding badges A, B and C and also became an instructor of air-gliding. When, in 1947, the airport was opened in a festive ceremony and an airshow took place at the occasion, the Staňkov Aero Club already had well over two hundred members. “A lot of people came here to cheer us on”. Spitfires flew over from České Budějovice for the airshow, there was an acrobatic performance on the wings of a biplane and other attractions. “After this, the Aero Club quickly grew popular and began to prosper”. When Josef Pavlík started his military service in 1948, he attended the school for air-force reserve officers in Pardubice. He’s pursued the career of a pilot throughout his entire professional life.
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