Evening star., 1953-03-24
Air|iner Seized
AT Gunpoint for
Freedom Flight
2o on Czech Plane
Diverted to West;
Six Ask for Refuge
BY the Asseciofsd Press

BY the AsSocioted Press
FRANKFURT, Germany, Mar.
24.-Four nti-Communist Czechs
one a woman-brought a
freedom plane" out of their
homeland last night after slug
ging the radio operator and grab
bing the controls at gunpoint.
First details of the daring dash
for freedom came from United
States High Commissioner James
B. Conant.
DR.. Conant said the pilot and
three fellow conspirators refused
to land the craft with 20 persons
aboard at Rhine Main airport
in West Germany until Ameri-
can authorities had assured the
four they would be granted
asylum. Today two others re-
quested permission to live in the
West. The other % will be re-
turned to Czechoslovakia in the
plane. They asked to go home.
Had Served With Raj.
At news conference IN Bonn,
DR.. Conant gave this account of
what happened before the silver
hulled CAT put down at Frank
furt's Rhine e-Main air base:
THE escape plan was organ
lied by a mechanic of the famed
Skoda armament works and his
wife. They spent two years try
ing to work out a suitable plan.
This mechanic had served with
the British RAF during the war.
They finally found the pilot.
Miroslav Slovak, "a, ready to
help them. The fourth person
in on the escape plot was tele-
vision engineer. Only these
four on the plane knew what
was going to happen when they
took off from Prague on a
regularly-scheduled flight to
Brno.
When the plane was one
half to two-thirds of the way to
Brno the pilot gradually began
to swing west and hedgehopped
to the United States zone.
(Brno is some 100 miles
southeast of Prague, while
Frankfurt is about $50 miles
due west of Prague)
Passengers Unaware of Plan.
when they came along the
(German-Czech) border near
Munich two members Of the
escape plan went to the cabin
and slugged the radio operator.
The co-pilot was forced to stay
there.
Three members of the escape
plan carried arms. The passen-
gers were not aware of what was
going to happen until it came
time to land.
"The Skoda mechanic started
talking to Frankfurt's Rhine
Main airport and asked assur-
ances for asylum for his group
before the plane would land.
About a half-hour after starting
this conversation, they were al
lowed to land on the military side
of the field"
After the plane landed, two
of the passengers decided to join
the four anti-Communists who
were asking political asylum.
One of these is an English
language teacher who had just
lost his job. The other is an
architect.
Others Held IncOmmunicadO.
These six said they wanted to
stay in the West where there
is freedom and justice"
The % passengers who want
to return to their Communist
homeland are still incommuni-
cado at the airport, where they
have been given food and shell
ter.
Newsmen peppered DR.. Conant
with questions about when the
United States Air Force in Ger
many first spotted the plane and
whether American fighters went
up to intercept it.
"The plane was in radio con-
tact with Rhine-Main from the
time it crossed the border, I be-
lieve," he replied. Il am sure
they the Air Force) must have
taken all the necessary precau-
itons. 1 don't think there was
any attempt to intercept the
plane"
The latest flight from Czecho-
slovakia paralleled the episode of
the freedom train" driven by
Jaroslav Kovalinka across the
West German frontier in Sep
tember, 1851, with lot persons
aboard. Thirty-two asked asylum.