This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(July 2010) |
BH-33 | |
---|---|
Role | Fighter |
Manufacturer | Avia, PWS (under licence), Ikarus (under licence) |
Designer | Miroslav Hajn and Pavel Beneš |
First flight | 21 October 1927 |
Primary users | Czechoslovak Air Force Polish Air Force Yugoslav Royal Air Force |
Produced | Ca. 110, plus 50 licence-built in Poland and 22 in Yugoslavia |
Developed from | Avia BH-21 |
The Avia BH-33 was a biplane fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1927. It was based on the BH-21J which demonstrated promising results by combining the original BH-21 airframe with a licence-built Bristol Jupiter radial engine. Other than the peculiar Avia hallmark of having an upper wing with a shorter span than the lower, it was utterly conventional, even featuring a tail fin for the first time in a Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn design (previous aircraft had a rudder but no fin).
Initial tests of the first prototype were disappointing, displaying performance only marginally better than the BH-21, even when fitted with a more powerful version of the Jupiter. Two further prototypes followed, both designated BH-33-1, each with an increasingly powerful Jupiter variant – one a Jupiter VI, the other a Jupiter VII. The performance of the latter example was finally acceptable for the Czechoslovakian defence ministry to order a small production run of only five aircraft.
Three examples were sold to Belgium, where there were plans to build the type under licence, but this did not occur. Licence production was undertaken, however, in Poland, where a single example was sold, along with a licence to build 50 aircraft. These were designated PWS-A and put into service with the Polish Air Force in 1930. [1]
Development continued with an almost total redesign of the fuselage, replacing the wooden, slab-sided structure with one of oval cross-section, built up from welded steel tubes. Designated BH-33E, this was a world-class fighter for its time. Nevertheless, the response from the Czechoslovakian military was lukewarm (although two were bought for the national aerobatics team), and Avia again looked abroad for customers, this time selling 20 aircraft to the Kingdom of Yugoslavia, along with a licence to produce another 24. Two or three examples were also bought by Soviet Union for evaluation. [2]
In late 1929, a further development was flown as the BH-33L, featuring longer-span wings, and a Škoda L W-block engine. This version finally brought the company the domestic sales that it had been hoping for, with 80 aircraft ordered by the Czechoslovak Air Force. These became standard equipment with some air regiments up to the outbreak of World War II. [3]
A single, final variant with a BMW-built Pratt & Whitney Hornet engine was built as the BH-33H (later redesignation BH-133) in 1930, but this did not lead to production.
The planes were used by Spanish Republican Air Force during Spanish-Civil War. [4] Czechoslovakian BH-33s never saw combat, and Poland's examples had long been replaced in service by the time of the German invasion. Two Yugoslavian machines did, however see combat against Luftwaffe Messerschmitt Bf 109s, but were both destroyed and their pilots killed.
Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928, [6] Combat aircraft of the world [7]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
Related lists
The Bristol Jupiter is a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine that was built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments turned it into one of the finest engines of its era.
The PZL P.11 is a Polish fighter aircraft, designed and produced in the early 1930s by Państwowe Zakłady Lotnicze. Possessing an all-metal structure, metal-covering, and high-mounted gull wing, the type held the distinction of being widely considered the most advanced fighter aircraft in the world at the time of its introduction into service.
The PZL P.7 was a Polish gull wing monoplane fighter aircraft designed in the early 1930s at the PZL factory in Warsaw. It was the main fighter of the Polish Air Force between 1933 and 1935. The PZL P.7 was replaced in Polish service by its follow-up design, the PZL P.11c. More than 30 PZL P.7 fighters remained in service during the Invasion of Poland, scoring several kills despite its obsolescence.
The Aero A.100 was a biplane light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft built in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. It was the final step in a design lineage that extended back to the Aero A.11 a decade earlier. A.100s remained in service throughout World War II and for a few years postwar.
The Avia BH-21 was a fighter biplane designed and produced by the Czechoslovakian aircraft manufacturer Avia. First flown in January 1925, it served an important role in securing Czechoslovak national security during the Interwar period.
The Avia B-534 is a Czechoslovak biplane fighter developed and manufactured by aviation company Avia. It was produced during the period between the First World War and the Second World War. The B-534 was perhaps one of the most well-known Czechoslovakian aircraft of the era.
Friedrichshafen FF.33 was a German single-engined reconnaissance three-bay wing structure biplane, using twin floats, designed by Flugzeugbau Friedrichshafen in 1914 for the Marine-Fliegerabteilung aviation forces of the Kaiserliche Marine.
The Avia BH-7 was a prototype fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1923. It was a parasol-wing monoplane developed in tandem with, and as an alternative to the BH-6, which shared its fuselage and tail design. Like the BH-6, the BH-7 was involved in a number of serious crashes during its test programme, which led to its abandonment as a fighter. Undaunted, however, Avia used the design as the basis for a racing aircraft, shortening the wingspan by 1.4 m, fairing the wing directly onto the top of the fuselage and dispensing with the cabane struts. This revised version was designated BH-7B and the fighter (retrospectively) as the BH-7A. When the design proved no more successful as a racer, it was finally put to rest.
The Let L-200 Morava is a two-engine touring and light passenger aircraft of the 1960s, designed and produced by Let Kunovice in the Czech Republic.
The Avia BH-19 was a fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1924. It was a low-wing braced monoplane derived from the Avia BH-3 and reflected its designers' ongoing belief that the monoplane configuration was the most suitable for a fighter aircraft. Initial trials revealed excellent performance, but also displayed control problems and aileron flutter. Nevertheless, the Czechoslovakian Army was sufficiently impressed to inform Avia that it would order the BH-19 if the problems could be rectified. The first prototype was destroyed in a crash during speed trials, and the second prototype revealed no better handling than its predecessor. At this point, the Czechoslovakian War Ministry stepped in and asked Avia to cease its attempts to develop a monoplane fighter.
The Avia BH-23 was a prototype night fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1926. The design was derived from the BH-21 day fighter, incorporating structural changes made to the BH-22 trainer, and the type was originally designated BH-22N. Searchlights and other night-flying equipment were added, but the Czechoslovak Air Force were not interested in the project and no sale resulted.
The Avia BH-25 was a biplane airliner built in Czechoslovakia in 1926.
The Fokker F.IX was an airliner developed in the Netherlands in the late 1920s, intended to provide KLM with an aircraft suitable for regular services to the Dutch East Indies. When the onset of the Great Depression forced the postponement of those plans, the market for this aircraft disappeared as well, although it did see military service in Czechoslovakia as a bomber.
The Letov Š-16 was a Czechoslovak single-engined, two-seat biplane bomber. It was designed by Alois Šmolík at Letov Kbely. The Š-16 first flew in 1926.
The Dewoitine D.1 was a French single-seat fighter aircraft of the 1920s, built by the French industrial company Dewoitine.
The Dewoitine D.21 was 1920s French open-cockpit, fixed-undercarriage, parasol winged monoplane fighter aircraft.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 was a French single-seat biplane fighter designed and built by Nieuport-Delage for the French Air Force.
The Letov Š-20 was a fighter aircraft produced in Czechoslovakia during the 1920s.
The Praga BH-41, later redesignated E-41, was a military advanced trainer aircraft produced in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s.
The PWS-12 was a biplane trainer designed and developed by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS). It entered production as the PWS-14.