Avia BH-26

Last updated
BH-26
Avia BH-26.jpg
RoleReconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer Avia
Designer Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn
First flight1927
Number builtca. 8

The Avia BH-26 was a two-seat armed reconnaissance aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in 1927. It was a single-bay unstaggered biplane with equal-span wings and a fixed tailskid undercarriage. Both upper and lower wings featured long-span ailerons, which were dynamically balanced by a small auxiliary airfoil mounted to the upper surface of the lower ailerons. Its design was typical of this type of aircraft built during World War I and the years following; pilot and observer sat in tandem open cockpits with the observer armed with a machine gun on a ring mount. As with many other Avia designs, the BH-26 originally had no fixed fin, only a rudder, but this was changed in service.

Reconnaissance military exploration beyond the area occupied by friendly forces

In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration outside an area occupied by friendly forces to gain information about natural features and other activities in the area.

Czechoslovakia 1918–1992 country in Central Europe, predecessor of the Czech Republic and Slovakia

Czechoslovakia, or Czecho-Slovakia, was a sovereign state in Central Europe that existed from October 1918, when it declared its independence from the Austro-Hungarian Empire, until its peaceful dissolution into the Czech Republic and Slovakia on 1 January 1993.

Biplane airplane wing configuration with two vertically stacked main flying surfaces

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.

Contents

Specifications

Avia BH-26 3-view drawing from L'Aeronautique January,1927 Avia BH-26 3-view L'Aeronautique January,1927.png
Avia BH-26 3-view drawing from L'Aéronautique January,1927

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928 [1]

General characteristics

Walter Aircraft Engines is an aircraft engine manufacturer and former automotive manufacturer. Its notable products include the M601 turboprop. The company is based in Prague, Czech Republic. It has been a subsidiary of GE Aviation since July 2008.

Bristol Jupiter aircraft engine family by Bristol

The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine 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.

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 250 km/h (155 mph; 135 kn)
  • Stall speed: 90 km/h (56 mph; 49 kn)
  • Range: 530 km (329 mi; 286 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
  • Rate of climb: 6.3 m/s (1,240 ft/min)
  • Time to altitude: 5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 13 minutes 20 seconds; 6,000 m (20,000 ft) in 17 minutes 30 seconds; 7,000 m (23,000 ft) in 27 minutes
  • Wing loading: 55.6 kg/m2 (11.4 lb/sq ft)
  • Power/mass: 0.205 kW/kg (0.125 hp/lb)

Power-to-weight ratio is a calculation commonly applied to engines and mobile power sources to enable the comparison of one unit or design to another. Power-to-weight ratio is a measurement of actual performance of any engine or power source. It is also used as a measurement of performance of a vehicle as a whole, with the engine's power output being divided by the weight of the vehicle, to give a metric that is independent of the vehicle's size. Power-to-weight is often quoted by manufacturers at the peak value, but the actual value may vary in use and variations will affect performance.

Armament

  • Guns: 2x fixed, forward-firing, synchronised 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine-guns in the forward fuselage upper decking and 2x 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Lewis guns on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit.
Lewis gun light machine gun

The Lewis gun is a First World War–era light machine gun of US design that was perfected and mass-produced in the United Kingdom, and widely used by troops of the British Empire during the war. It had a distinctive barrel cooling shroud and top-mounted pan magazine. The Lewis served to the end of the Korean War. It was also widely used as an aircraft machine gun, almost always with the cooling shroud removed, during both World Wars. "The Lewis Gun is the most recognized classic light machine gun in the world."

See also

Related development BH-28

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References

  1. Grey, C.G., ed. (1928). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p. 76c.

Further reading