František Vít

* 1943

  • "At that time, a boy who was in my platoon and was the chairman of the Communist Party came to me in that unit, in that company, and brought me a party application. And he told me to take care of it at home on the holiday. At that time, it was necessary to have a guarantor, about three guarantors, who, as comrades, were already experienced. And he told me: "Look, when you get it confirmed by them, you come back, I'll take it from you, we'll accept you right away and the career of a lifetime opens up for you." Well, I left the application on the nightstand and left on vacation. Well, after the holidays, I thought it would just die down, but it didn't. He came to me, his name was Jano Vaněk at the time, and asked me if I had the application form. I said, "No, I haven't." But since he was my subordinate, he didn't ask me more. Well, in about three days, the deputy commander of the school for political matters came to see me, I think his name was Lieutenant Colonel Haldel. Well, we nicknamed him the apple of paradise, because he always had such a round face and such a smile. Well, at first, he played it funny, but then he told me why I don't have the application. And I told him at the time that I didn't feel mature enough for such an important life step. And imagined that I was among the best for the whole next year. I was still deputy platoon leader, but I was only a corporal. No further promotion took place."

  • "That was one of my interests. And I've even been going to the airport here since I was about fourteen. I don't know how old you are. So, I used to go to the airport here, and when I saw the planes from the ground, I got the idea that they were really big. And then, when I got on my bike and drove there to look at the airport, I found out that the planes are basically small. So I was disappointed. Well, I started going there. Well, if you go somewhere for a longer period of time, the others start noticing you. So first they let me walk around the plane with a rag to wipe it and stuff. Then I had to pass some exams there and that was around the age of fourteen. Well, so I could already fill up gasoline, oil, just the usual checks. Well, later on we gave one, you can say some intermediate revisions, but they were all sorts of planes. And I remember that as a reward I was put on a plane called a stork. I don't think it flies anymore. It was a high-flying aircraft, even then it was from the post-war military era. Well, I sat behind the pilot and I know that we took off and the only thing I remember about it is that I saw the Liberec dam below. Such a landmark. So that was my first flight. And the next ones followed."

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    Liberec, 29.04.2022

    (audio)
    délka: 58:07
    nahrávka pořízena v rámci projektu The Stories of Our Neigbours
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I left the party application on the bedside table and went on vacation

František Vít (en)
František Vít (en)
zdroj: archiv pamětníka

František Vít was born on December 7, 1943 in Smiřice nad Labem. He started going to school in 1949 and in the same year he also managed to join the scout troop. He also remembers the currency reform from his childhood. He was fascinated by airplanes and flying from an early age; he often went to see the Liberec airport, where he later helped out and also flew for the first time. Thanks to this, he got to study aircraft mechanics in Košice while serving in the army. Although he was already a corporal after a year, his career progress soon stopped. He refused to join the Communist Party and remained in the army even after completing his mandatory military service. In 1968 he was already a professional soldier at the airport in Hradec Králové. He was on vacation in mid-August, so he did not experience the invasion of Warsaw Pact troops directly at the airport. Nevertheless, it was the impulse for him to decide to leave the army. Since September 1968, he started working in the construction industry. As shortly before the Velvet Revolution, the possibilities for freeing up business opened up very slowly, he took advantage of it and from May 1989 he made a living as a private entrepreneur.