ČKD Praga
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ČKD-Praga (Českomoravská Kolben Daněk-Praga) was a Czechoslovak manufacturer of aircraft and aircraft engines in Prague- Karlin.
history
In 1907, the First Bohemian-Moravian Machine Factory in Prague and Ringhoffer founded the Praga automobile factory . In 1915 an engine company was established as a subsidiary, whose products were mostly referred to as Praga . After the company merger in 1927, the plant belonged to the Českomoravská Kolben Daněk concern and was merged with the automobile manufacturer in 1929.
When the two designers Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn moved from Avia to ČKD-Praga between 1930/31 , the construction of aircraft began. The first successful development was the E-39 of 1931, a military school - biplanes were built, of which 139 pieces. In the following years, ČKD-Praga developed several types of aircraft, but these either remained just projects or did not get beyond the prototype stage.
Under chief designer Jaroslav Šlechta, when the company increasingly relied on civil aircraft, commercial success began again in 1934 with the E-114 Air Baby , probably the best-known design from ČKD-Praga. This sport aircraft was built many times and sold to France, Great Britain, Romania and Iran. It also appeared in an English licensed version in 1937 as Hillson-Praga Baby. As late as 1946, 126 of these were made with different engines.
A total of 17 types of aircraft were developed at ČKD-Praga, 7 of which were ready for series production.
