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Prototype 04/30/2006. Remarks by Malcolm Lowe: "The Let L-610 was going to be a new-generation turboprop transport, the latest invention of the Czechoslovak organisation Let-Kunovice. The end of the Cold War and the drying-up of guaranteed orders have subsequently seen this promising project go through many problems. Let Kunovice was once one of Czechoslovakia's main aviation companies, and was a major producer of transport aircraft from behind the Iron Curtain during the communist domination of Central Europe. But Let has struggled since the fall of communism, and spent an unhappy spell under brief American ownership in the late 1990's. The company is now owned by another Czech organisation, and is trying to reassert itself. However, the L-610 project does not seem to have a future at the moment. The aircraft photographed was one of a small number that was actually built and flown. It is pictured here at Prague-Ruzyne airport, where I photographed it in 1995 during that year's Aerosalon. It wears Czech Air Force titles, and it may well have been the only L-610 to actually be on the books of the Czech Air Force at that time (although at least one other might have served with the VZLU test establishment in the Czech Republic). It wears the s/n '0005' on its rear fuselage." |
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