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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Josef Pavlík
Josef Pavlík came into the world on May 18, 1927. He spent his childhood on a small farm in Staňkov. After completing elementary school he attended a high school in Domažlice. However, the Germans shut down the school during the war and thus he decided to study at Baťa’s school of work in Zlín. In March 1945, he was assigned to trench work. He fled from the advancing front line and got to his uncle in Prague, where he witnessed the uprising. After the war, Josef Pavlík completed a pedagogical training and began working as a teacher. He would spend all his free time trying to restore the flying club and airport in Staňkov. The airport went into operation in 1947 when it hosted an air day. A year later, Josef Pavlík was called to compulsory military service. He applied for the Air-Force-Officer School in reserve, which was housed in Pardubice, where he attained a navigator badge. After completing his military service, he attended a three-year course at the Air-Force Academy in Hradec Králové. This was followed by his assignment to the 4th Fighter-Plane Regiment in Plzeň. He attained the rank of squadron commander and flight instructor. He recalls that at that time the planes often patrolled over the western border, where American spy planes would occasionally appear. In 1951, Josef Pavlík was transferred to Bratislava, where he was trained for the operation of MiG jet planes. In the following years, he worked in Brno, Košice, Piešťany, or as a flight instructor. At that time, he already held the rank of a Major. In 1963, he accepted the offer to pursue a career as the inspector of the supersonic air force. Thanks to his experience he soon gained the position of the chief of tactical and firearms training, which he then held until his retirement from the army in 1985. He continued his activities as a civilian employee of the Interdepartmental Commission for Air-traffic Control. After the revolution in 1989, he actively participated in the restoration of the Union of Czechoslovak Aviators and was elected its first chairman. During his time in office, he oversaw the creation of the memorial to the fallen Czechoslovak airmen at the Náměstí svobody Square in Prague. He has devoted his life to the popularization of aviation and he has published numerous expert papers on aviation safety.
