Las Vegas Undressed

Miss Wahoo – Mira Slovak

 

I had a comment recently from Wahoo and it got me thinking about Mira Slovak “The Flying Czech”. He was a famous Hydroplane driver who drove the Miss Wahoo. I did a google search and found this article by Bob Karolevitz. While it is long it is well worth the read.

The men who pilot the unlimited hydroplanes are a brave, speed-loving lot with interesting stories to tell. The late Major General Claire L. Chennault unfolded the letter which reached him in Taipei, Taiwan. The writer was a crop-dusting pilot in Yakima, Washington, a young man whose message moved the fighting old general who knew first-hand the ravages of Communism.

The letter read:

I escaped from Communist-controlled Czechoslovakia last year by flying an airliner from Prague to Frankfurt, West Germany. I was granted political asylum in the United States in December, 1953. I feel an obligation to fight against the Communists because I saw what happened in my country.I will fly with you, against the Communists, anywhere, and for no salary. I have only one wish in my life and that is to fight these terrible aggressors.

The escape would be made on a scheduled flight from Prague to Brno. Mira would be pilot of the C-47 Dakota which would carry 26 passengers and three crew members. Among the passengers were Hana and Helmut Cermak and Bozidar Medic, a television engineer who was a last-minute addition to the conspiracy.At 7:20 p.m. the plane lumbered down the runway and took off in the direction of Brno, 115 miles to the southeast. Once in flight, Slovak turned the controls over to his Communist co-pilot and walked back among the passengers. Helmut Cermak and Medic then accompanied him up front on the pretext of seeing the pilots’ compartment.With weapons brought aboard by the pilot, the escapees overpowered the other crew members and locked them in a baggage compartment. Almost casually Slovak made his final radio contact over Benesov, then tipped the ship downward in a steep dive.

Bright Lights Spell “Freedom”

Leveling out well under 1,000 feet, which was below the effective radar screen, the pilot banked the plane sharply toward the west and the 45-minute hedge-hopping flight to freedom. At any moment they expected MIG fighters to pounce upon them. As an additional menace, an attempt was made by Communist passengers to break down the door of the pilots’ compartment. Mira pulled back hard on the wheel and then shoved it forward quickly. The effect was like hitting a huge air pocket and the lurching plane dissuaded any further passenger counter-revolt.

By this time colored lights began to appear in the towns and cities below them.

“We knew we were over West Germany then,” explained Mira. “In Czechoslovakia we had no such lights, just dim white ones because of the power shortage.”

Circling high above the American Air Force Base at Rhein-Main, Slovak contacted a passing jet and was led down. The time was then 9:50, and a more suspenseful two-and-a-half-hour drama could not he created on stage or film.

This chapter of Mira Slovak’s life came to a close when he and five of his passengers were granted political asylum, and the next morning head-lines throughout the Free World proclaimed the escape.

For over a year Mira worked closely with the U. S. Air Force, in Germany and in Washington, D. C., where he arrived in December of 1953. For his cooperation during those long months of interrogation, he won permanent residency in the United States.

The rest of Mira’s story — from crop-duster to hydroplane pilot — is familiar to all devotees of the sport. Today he is a worthy competitor on the water and a good citizen on land.

As for the Communists, his thoughts have not changed since he wrote his letter to General Chennault!

— Bob Karolevitz

[Reprinted from the 1959 APBA Gold Cup Official Regatta Programme]