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AVIA AKCIOVA SPOLECNOST PRO PRUMYSL LETECKY |
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| CZECHOSLOVAKIA |
Original Avia company founded 1919. Taken over by Milos Bondy a Spol about 1923, but acquired 1926 by Skoda, which also made Hispano-Suiza air engines under license. Early Avia designers were Benes and Hajn: hence initials in aircraft designations. BH-1 was light sporting two-seater; BH-3 a low-wing strut-braced single-seat fighter for the Czechoslovak National Defense Ministry; BH-25 a fiveseater; BH-26 a two-seat fighter; BH-33 a single-seat biplane fighter developed from the BH-21. Company made Fokker F.VII/3m under license, and Avia FIV IX was a Fokker-designed bomber. Before the war the company built fast metal-skinned transports of original design: Avia 51, 56, and 57. B 534 biplane was outstanding single-seat biplane fighter (445 built) used by Czechoslovak Air Force and widely considered best of class in Continental Europe. B 71 was Soviet-designed monoplane bomber; S 199 was post-war improvised development of German Bf 109. In 1945 factories were reconstituted under Government, but production of Avia 36 light monoplane was resumed and Douglas C-47s were converted for civil use. Soviet 11-14M built as Avia 14.
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 All the World's Rotorcraft |
