Ceska Trebova, East Bohemia, Feb 22 (CTK) – Two Czechs found a week ago the wreck of a Polish helicopter in a forest between Lanskroun and Ceska Trebova that crashed 48 years ago, Military History and Technology Museum owner Vladek Vacha told journalists on Monday.
“Many locals knew much about the crashed helicopter, but under law, the official finding only occurred last Sunday,” Vacha said.
“The helicopter will be a part of the exhibition of the Military Museum in Kraliky (east Bohemia),” Vacha said.
The SM-2 helicopter crashed on October 12, 1968, soon after the occupation of Czechoslovakia by Warsaw Pact troops on August 21.
Its three-member crew survived the crash. Due to the cloudy weather, the pilot turned back to the air base, but he grazed the tops of the trees in a local forest.
Trying to make an emergency landing, he grazed the trees again, due to which the tail rotor was torn off.
The crew managed to leave the helicopter that then exploded.
A half-meter crater remained after the blast. On the day of the finding, the place became an archaeological site, Vacha said.
