Chile and Argentina: A life in Latin America

"I remember it very fondly," says nowadays Luděk Skočdopole, the leader of the expedition and an OMNIPOL employee at the time.

Life in Latin America – and thus also in Chile and Argentina - was not easy at the time. Most people worked in agriculture in the countryside, from where a large part of them began to move to the cities for work in industry. That caused several problems. For example, rapid urbanization had the effect of increasing poverty, because there were not enough jobs in the cities and the infrastructure was not prepared for the influx of new residents.

Thus, tension in society grew, leading to demonstrations and political clashes. Protests and strikes, which in some places lasted for long days, forced our delegation to change plans. But more on that in a moment.

A rich cultural life also played an important role in society. The importance of literature, art and education increased. Gradually, women's rights also began to grow. As for transportation, people at that time mainly used public transportation, primarily buses. The railway and road network developed rapidly. Trams ran in the cities, while in the villages the typical means of transport was a horse or older models of passenger cars.

Winning with the national song

It was in these conditions when Czechoslovak pilots together with, the employee and future director of OMNIPOL Luďek Skočdopol presented the airplanes in Latin America.

Everything went according to plan in Chile. The aircraft performed in the cities of Santiago, Valparaíso, Chillán, Concepción, Osorno and Puerto Montt. "I like to remember one of the experiences in Santiago. There we went for dinner at a restaurant where tourists used to gather. So, there were different nationalities," Luděk Skočdopole recounts one of his observations. "Every evening, the individual nationalities were called to sing their national song. Everyone then watched, listened and rewarded the performances with applause. The strength of the applause being the measure of evaluation," says Mr. Skočdopole.

He adds that a mechanic from Czech city named Choceň also completed the journey with them. "And he happened to sing in the local choir. So, guess what? We won it," says Luděk Skočdopole even today with a big smile on his face.

Bureaucratic wheel

They experienced only minor problems in Chile until just before their flight to Argentina, when the local authorities wanted a certificate of integrity. They had to go through a bureaucratic process, where they were first photographed with a number on their chest as a criminal and were fingerprinted twice. Then we continued to fill out complex forms, with addresses all the way back to grandmothers and grandfathers.

"Even if we wanted to fill out the questionnaire honestly, we couldn't remember everything. So, to put it simply, most of us were single and unrelated, making everyone suspect. I, on the other hand, listed Jan Žižka from Trocnov, Josef Švejk, Božena Němcová, Vlasta Burian as relatives, and addresses such as Petřínská rozhledna, Olšanský hřbitov, etc. A stupid answer to a stupid questionnaire... and it passed," writes pilot of L-60 in his book full of memoirs Miroslav Křemen. The whole round was then completed by paying the fees and then we could go to Argentina.

Argentine demonstrations

"There were a lot of demonstrations in Argentina," begins Luděk Skočdopole's narration. Our planes reached the country again over the mountains, although considerably lower than the Cordilleras. The first stop was Bariloche, which is a small "Argentine Switzerland". It continued to perform in other cities, until the group landed in Buenos Aires again, where they had to prepare for the next leg of the tour - this time in Brazil.

"During the trip, we promoted all Czechoslovak aircraft, not just the ones with which we completed the trip. It is interesting that, the interest was mainly in the L-13 Blaník glider," says Luděk Skočdopole. And he adds: "They were the first all-metal gliders in the world."

Until the arrival in Buenos Aires, the trip was more or less on schedule, but now came the turning point. First, the group discovered they had no Brazilian money or visas. Then started long days of protests and strikes. Street demonstrations were typical of groups of shouting people who turned into a chanting crowd. Broken windows, gunfire, overturned cars and explosions followed. After that, the firemen and policemen calmed down the crowd with water jets. There were many similar events.

And then when the strikes calmed down, the weather worsened. It rained for several days, so even the airport from which the Czechoslovaks were supposed to fly to Brazil remained under water. They managed to leave Argentina only at the end of April, when the runway finally protruded from the water.