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

The Aero A.101 was a biplane light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft built in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s.

Design and development

In 1933, the Czechoslovak Air Force had a requirement to replace ageing bombers such as the Letov Š-16 and Aero A.30, and so issued a requirement for an improved version of the Aero A.100. The new aircraft, the Aero A.101, was required to use Isotta Fraschini Asso 800 W18 engines that had been built under license by ČKD-Praga for the unsuccessful Aero A.42 monoplane bomber, instead of the license-built Hispano-Suiza 12N used by the A.100. Like the Aero A.100 upon which it was based, the A.101 was a single-engined biplane of mixed metal and wood construction, with a fixed conventional landing gear. The A.101 had increased span wings and a lengthened fuselage compared to the A.100. While the Asso engine was more powerful (with a rating of 600–750 kW (800–1,000 hp) compared to 485–541 kW (650–725 hp) for the Hispano-Suiza engine), it was significantly heavier.

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.

Local demand eventually was forthcoming, and a re-engined version was produced as the Ab.101.

Operators

Czechoslovakia

• Czechoslovakian Air Force

Slovakia

• Slovak Air Force (1939-1945)

Spanish Republic

• Spanish Republican Air Force

Spanish State

• Spanish Nationalist Air Force

Specifications (A.101)

Data from Monografie: Aero A-101/Ab-101: Část III

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

Related development

• A.430
• A.100
• A.104

Related lists

• List of bomber aircraft
• List of interwar military aircraft
• List of aircraft of the Spanish Republican Air Force

Bibliography

• 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.
• Howson, Gerald (1999). Arms for Spain: The Untold Story of the Spanish Civil War. New York: St. Martin's Press. ISBN 0-312-24177-1.
• 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

• Media related to Aero A.101 at Wikimedia Commons