Aero A.14
| Aero A.14 | |
|---|---|
|
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| Type: | Multipurpose aircraft |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: | |
| First flight: |
1922 |
| Number of pieces: |
25th |
The Aero A.14 was a two-seat biplane - Aircraft of the Czech company Aero .
The similarity of the A.14 to the Hansa-Brandenburg CI (series 369, manufacturer: UFAG) is unmistakable. Therefore, this two-handle double-decker is often referred to as "Velký Brand'ák" ("Great Brandenburger").
history
Since it became clear at the beginning of the 1920s that the young Czechoslovak aircraft industry would not be able to deliver a modern, high-performance aircraft at short notice, the Ministry of Defense decided to license the Hansa-Brandenburg CI, of which around 60 machines in more after the First World War or in a less damaged condition in Czechoslovakia . In 1922 25 training aircraft were ordered, which were originally designated as “Braho” Ae-H-2.01 to Ae-H-2.25 and later renamed A.14.1 to A.14.25. Five machines received a double tax (164,000 CZK per cell) and 20 a single tax (156,000 CZK per cell). The engines were supplied by the Breitfeld & Daněk plant in Prague (CZK 180,000 per engine). The first aircraft was handed over to the Czechoslovak military on August 25, 1922 . The majority of the A.14 came to the VLU in Cheb , some came to the school squadron of the Air Regiment 1 in Prague. However, they did not remain in active service for long, because problems arose with vibration phenomena in the new engines, which, however, could be solved reasonably satisfactorily. Regardless of this, they were taken out of service at the beginning of 1923 and in March 1923 they were sent to the so-called “Fliegerpost”, where the military carried out test flights with them on the Prague – Bratislava route, among other things . Major Skála carried out the first "scheduled flight" with an A.14.01 (L-BARA) on March 1, 1923 - his passenger was his wife. In the following two months of flight operations, 250 hours of flight resulted in a distance of around 27,000 km.
With the establishment of the Czech airline Československé Statni Aerolinie (ČSA), today's Czech Airlines , on October 6, 1923, a new field of activity was found for the A.14. The official start of flight operations was on October 28th, but because of the bad flying weather, the pilot Karel Brabenec only made a symbolic traffic pattern around the Prague-Kbely airfield with the A.14.18 (L-BARC) . One day later, on October 29, 1923, the Prague – Bratislava flight connection was officially opened when the pilot Karel Brabenec and a newspaper reporter boarded the L-BARC as a passenger on the 321 km route from Prague to Bratislava , while at the same time the pilot Cinibulk was en route from Bratislava to Prague with the A.14.19 (L-BARI). The ČSA used a total of 17 type A.14 machines for the postal service on this route, with one passenger at a time. In July and August 1924, six A.14s were converted to carry two passengers, using the former observer's room. Since five of the machines were returned to the Ministry of Defense in the same year, the ČSA fleet was reduced to five two-seater and one single-seater A.14. With the takeover of the Aero DH-50 and the Letov Š-19 , the A.14 continued to lose importance. In 1926, A.14 only made 8% of flights with ČSA. In 1927 her era ended with the Czech airline, which only had the A.14.08 (L-BARS) in its aircraft fleet.
Variant Aero A.15
This model differed from the A.14 only in the engine equipment. Instead of the Type N Hiero motor , the A.15 was equipped with the somewhat more powerful Hiero L.
Military users
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Data |
|---|---|
| crew | two or a pilot and a passenger |
| length | 8.40 m |
| span | 12.30 m |
| Wing area | 37.50 m² |
| Wing loading | 34 kg / m² |
| Empty mass | 933 kg |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 1275 kg |
| Engine | a Hiero N with 169 kW (230 PS) |
| Top speed | 179 km / h |
| Cruising speed | 150 km / h |
| Rate of climb | 1.85 m / s |
| Rise time | 36 min at an altitude of 4000 m |
See also
literature
- Václav Němeček: Československá letadla . Naše Vojsko, Prague 1968 (Czech).
