Aero A.101
| A.101 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Light bomber Reconnaissance aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Aero Vodochody |
| Number built | 50 |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1930s |
| First flight | 12 December 1934[1] |
The Aero A.101 was a biplane light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft built in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s.
Design and development
[edit]The Aero A.101 was an attempt to improve the Aero A.100 by enlarging it and fitting it with a more powerful engine. However, even with 33% more power, performance was actually inferior, and the Czechoslovak Air Force was not interested in the type. Production did result when 50 were ordered by Spanish Republican forces for use in the Spanish Civil War. Some of these aircraft were captured by Nationalists while en route and used against their original buyers.[2]
Local demand eventually was forthcoming, and a re-engined version was produced as the Ab.101.
Operators
[edit]
Specifications (A.101)
[edit]Data from Monografie: Aero A-101/Ab-101: Část III[4]
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 12.09 m (39 ft 8 in)
- Wingspan: 17.00 m (55 ft 9 in)
- Height: 3.86 m (12 ft 8 in)
- Wing area: 57.10 m2 (614.6 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 2,500 kg (5,512 lb)
- Max takeoff weight: 4,260 kg (9,392 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × CKD Praga-Isotta Fraschini Asso 750 W-18 water-cooled piston engine, 588 kW (789 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 265 km/h (165 mph, 143 kn) at 4,500 m (14,800 ft)
- Range: 845 km (525 mi, 456 nmi)
- Service ceiling: 5,600 m (18,400 ft)
Armament
- Guns:
- 1× forward-firing 7.92 mm (0.312 in) vz.30 (Česká zbrojovka Strakonice) machine guns
- 2× 7.92 mm vz.30 (Česká zbrojovka Strakonice) in ring mount for observer
- Bombs: 600 kg (1,300 lb)
See also
[edit]Related development
Related lists
- List of bomber aircraft
- List of interwar military aircraft
- List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force
References
[edit]- ^ Kučera Letectví a Kosmonautika 1988 No. 18, p. 710.
- ^ La ayuda material a la República Española Archived 2011-03-10 at the Wayback Machine (in Spanish)
- ^ "Aircraft that took part in the Spanish Civil War". Archived from the original on 2015-02-05. Retrieved 2015-01-10.
- ^ Kučera Letectví a Kosmonautika 1988 No. 20, pp. 791–792.
Bibliography
[edit]- Cerda, Juan Arraez (May 2003). "Les Aero A-101 en Espagne". Avions: Toute L'Aeronautique et Son Histoire... (in French). No. 122. pp. 47–56.
- Green, William (1967). War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Seven - Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft. London: Macdonald.
- Kučera, Pavel; Vraný, Jiří (1988). "Monografie: Aero A-101/Ab-101: Část I". Letectví a Kosmonautika (in Czech). Vol. LXIV, no. 18. pp. 710–712. ISSN 0024-1156.
- Kučera, Pavel; Vraný, Jiří (1988). "Monografie: Aero A-101/Ab-101: Část II". Letectví a Kosmonautika (in Czech). Vol. LXIV, no. 19. pp. 750–752. ISSN 0024-1156.
- Kučera, Pavel; Vraný, Jiří (1988). "Monografie: Aero A-101/Ab-101: Část III". Letectví a Kosmonautika (in Czech). Vol. LXIV, no. 20. pp. 789–792. ISSN 0024-1156.
External links
[edit]
Media related to Aero A.101 at Wikimedia Commons
