The Thunderbolt sculpture was created for the skate park in Tělovýchovná in Prague – Řeporyje and is inspired by dogfight that took place over the village on April 16th 1945. In a brief engagement, an American Republic P-47D Thunderbolt fighter managed to shoot down a modern Messerschmitt 262 Schwalbe jet fighter, which landed near the site of today’s skatepark. Shooting down this modern aircraft was not easy due to its unrivalled performance. The pilot of the Thunderbolt was most likely Lieutenant Hennry A. Yandel. The downed fighter landed on nearby Mládek Street. The pilot, Harald König, saved himself by jumping out of a parachute and landed on the grounds of the brickyard, which is now a soccer field, skate park and Bubec Sculpture Studio.

When designing the sculpture I worked with several significant elements of the winning Thunderbolt aircraft (the shape of the wings and rudder, the nose of the aircraft, the colourful camouflage). I also took into account the specific location defined by the winding road that lines the eastern part of the site. Among other things, the sculpture provides skate park users with an alternative shelter from the weather.

The structure of the sculpture consists of a network of aluminium shaped profiles and tubes standing on three stainless steel legs anchored in the ground on concrete footings. The structure is sheathed in 1.5 mm thick aluminium sheet, which is shaped using an English wheel. The cladding of the sculpture is partially coloured in colours referring to the original colour scheme of the Thunderbolt aircraft. The sculpture will be gradually refined and patinated by the users of the skatepark.
Dimensions 7.5 x 3.5 x 6 m