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Czech family fleesin stolen airplaneVIENNA lt;UPi)A former Czechoslovak fighter pilot and his family are safely inAustria after a dramatic escape from behind die iron curtain in astolen two-seater plane.Janus Pavelka, 40, a wartime Royal Air Force flier, told Austrianpolice he had waited 10 years for his chance.Last Saturday Pavelka, his wife, Eva, 35; his son, Janus, 4; his daughter, Maria, 6; and his brother-in-law, Vaclav, 15, crept into the plane of the aero club of Deutsch Brod—only a few hundred yardsfrom a military air base.The base was deserted because its staff had gone to the Internation- j al trade fair in nearby Brno, Pavelka had been told.He shoved the two youngest children under the seats because of the lack of room, and then tried to start the plane. He failed timeafter time but kept trying.Then, after 30, minutes of frantic efforts, the overloaded planetook off in the direction of Austria.Pavelka, who has not flown for at least 10 years, managed to land in a wheat field near Arbesbach, lower Austria, with a broken propeller and damaged fuselage.The only casualty was Janus who had a bruised leg. f 'Neither 1 nor my wife was allowed to study by the Communist authorities, Pavelka told Austrian police.‘‘Our children are going to have it better.”Pavelka, a truck driver who speaks fluent German and English said he hopes to emigrate to Britain where he has relatives and manywar-time friends.The family has been taken to the refugee barracks at Vienna-Kagran where police are checking their story in a routine inves-tigation, _______
Newspaper Details
The Times Herald Record
Middletown, New York, US
Tue, Sep 25, 1962
Page 33
Full Page
Clipped by
Yannah P.
USA 19 Nov 2022
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