Vaclav Cholek ( czech Václav Holek ; September 24, 1886 , Malé Nepodřice [1] - November 13, 1954 , Brno ) - Czech engineer and designer of small arms. One of the outstanding weapons developers in pre-war Czechoslovakia . Over the years of his activity, he applied for more than 75 patents. Brother Emanuel Holek, designer rifle ZH-29 .
| Vaclav Cholek | |
|---|---|
| Václav Holek | |
 | |
| Date of Birth | September 24, 1886 |
| Place of Birth | Male Nepodřice, Kingdom of Bohemia , Austria-Hungary |
| Date of death | December 13, 1954 (68 years) |
| Place of death | Brno |
| Citizenship |  |
| Occupation | hand gun designer |
Content
Biography
Vaclav Holek was born in the village of Male-Nepodřice in southern Bohemia in 1886. After training weapons skills, subsequently continued his studies in the city of Pisek . In 1905, he began working with the company of Anton Mulac in Vienna , and in 1910 he got a job from the gunsmith Jan Novotny in Prague , where he took part in the processing of the hunting rifles of the Holland & Holland system . During World War I, the company produced artillery for the Austro-Hungarian Army .
In 1918, Holek moved to the newly created son of Jan Novotny, the company Zbrojovka Praga, engaged in the production of firearms. Here, in 1920, he created the Praga 21 compact self - loading pistol [2] . And it was here that in the spring of 1921, Vaclav Holek designed a light machine gun , adopted by the Czechoslovak army as PRAGA vz. 24, is a direct predecessor of the machine gun ZB vz. 26
In December 1924, Holek moved to Zbrojovka Brno , where in the 1930s he developed the ZB-53 machine gun, on the basis of which the BESA machine gun , produced in the UK to equip tanks, was created.
During the Second World War and in the postwar years, Vaclav Holek developed a number of modern types of firearms, of which only the Vz machine gun . 52 saw the production line.
Vaclav Cholek died in Brno on December 13, 1954 at the age of 68.
Developments
- Praga 21
- ZB vz. 26
- ZB vz. thirty
- ZB-53
- Vz. 52
- ZB-47
Notes
- ↑ Martin Hankovec. DigiArchiv SOA v Třeboni - ver. 11/16/11 | Parish register on birth and christening . digi.ceskearchivy.cz. The appeal date is November 18, 2016.
- ↑ Vaclav Holek - armed all
Literature
- Lubomir Popelinský: Československé automatické zbraně - Praha: Naše vojsko, 1999 - 198 s., - ISBN 8020605673 , 9788020605672