The pilot mistook the airport
Ludvík Rapan served in the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Brigade, which was formed in the Soviet Union and was planned to be deployed in support of the Slovak National Uprising. The paratroopers were transported to Slovakia from the Polish airport of Rzeszow. However, Ludvík Rapan did not manage to get to Slovakia: “I flew twice. For the first time, we couldn't land due to terrible weather. The second attempt also failed due to bad weather. For the third time, the Russian pilot confused the airport Tri Duby, which was under our control, with an airport seized by the Germans, and was getting ready for landing. We were already some 100 meters above the ground, when the Germans opened fire at us. Two lads were killed and several were injured.” The disoriented pilot eventually landed in the Ukrainian city of Lvov.
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Ludvík Rapan
Ludvík Rapan was born in 1921 in the Slovak village of Dlhé Pole near Žilina. He was serving his apprenticeship as a locksmith in East Bohemia, when he learned the news about the breakup of Czechoslovakia. After a short stay in Slovakia, he worked in Germany and later in Austria. In 1942, he was conscripted to the Slovak army. He went through training for a telegraph operator and in 1943 he was sent to the Eastern Front. He ended up in Soviet captivity, where he contracted typhus fever. After he completed parachute training, he served in the 2nd Czechoslovak Parachute Brigade. As a member of the brigade, he shortly engaged in fighting in the Carpathian Mountains. After the suppression of the Slovak National Uprising, he joined the 1st Czechoslovak Air-Force Division and served as a flight gunner mainly in North Moravia. After the war, Mr. Rapan left the army and worked as a telegraph operator at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of the Interior.
