Czech fighter pilots proving the Eastern Front had heroes too — and they're devastating.
Further east of the Dark Blue Sky, where the Heavenly Horsemen fought, the story of a Czechoslovakian fighter squadron takes place, to which Second Lieutenant Jandak arrives as a rookie. He then experiences both his first love and a battle high above the clouds in the collective of combat pilots. Combat pilots on the Eastern Front thus experience similar stories to their Western colleagues, with the same goals and plans and the same slim prospects of survival in their daily life-and-death battles. Not surprisingly, they fought at a time when they had a common enemy, characterised by the Messerschmitt aircraft.
Cinematography
Dogfights that actually feel like flying, not CGI chaos.
Production
Authentic Soviet-Czech co-production with real aircraft.
Director
Otakar Fuka
Trivia, insights & behind the scenes
One of the few Czech films to portray WWII Soviet alliance without heavy communist glorification, made just before the Velvet Revolution.
Director Otakar Fuka used actual restored Messerschmitts and Yaks; several pilots from the real 1st Czechoslovak Fighter Air Regiment consulted on production.
XC
