Aero (company)

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AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE as

logo
legal form Corporation
founding 1919
Seat Odolena Voda , Czech Republic
Number of employees 1 703 (December 31, 2018)
Branch Aircraft construction
Website www.aero.cz

AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE as is a Czech aircraft manufacturer that also manufactured motorcycle sidecars , wooden superstructures for passenger and delivery vehicles and, from 1929, automobiles . The Czechoslovak company was founded on January 10, 1919 under the name Aero, továrna letadel Dr. Kabeš founded in Prague- Holešovice . Production in the newly built factory in Prague- Vysočany began in 1923.

AERO Vodochody

L-39 Albatros trainer aircraft
Aero L-159 ground attack aircraft

AERO Vodochody as is the largest manufacturer of military training aircraft in the world. In the past, aircraft were mainly developed and built for military use, from light observation aircraft to twin-engine bombers. The first type was a replica of an Austrian Phönix double-decker, which was based on the German Hansa-Brandenburg B.I (developed by Ernst Heinkel ) and appeared in 1919 - slightly modified - as the Aero Ae-01 . Several types of the 1600 kg class were later further developed on this basis, including the successful types A-11 and A-12, which were built in over 400 copies .

In 1920 the first own design appeared, the single-engine biplane fighter aircraft Aero Ae-02 . Initially, there was no series production, but the sample later served as the starting model for some constructions of the 1000 kg class. By 1938, Aero had developed 38 different types of aircraft, 25 of which went into production. Most were military, but there were also civil aircraft like the Aero A-38, built from 1929 onwards . From 1925 the English airliner De Havilland DH.50 and from 1935 the French bomber MB-200 were built under license. The A-11 and A-32 combat aircraft were exported to Finland from 1924 and 1927, respectively.

After the occupation of the Czechoslovak Republic in 1939, the Aero plant mainly produced the Siebel Si 204 under German supervision and, for a while, the licensed version of the Soviet Tupolev SB-2 (B-71), the building rights of which the Czechoslovak government had acquired in 1938 before the occupation.

After the Second World War , the plant continued to build the Si-204 under the designation C-3 for the Czechoslovak armed forces until 1949. The first own type after the liberation was the twin-engine Aero Ae-45 touring aircraft from 1947, of which over 500 were produced. In 1954 Aero began building the Soviet MiG-15 under license .

In 1959, Aero developed the L-29 Delfin jet trainer for the military , which the entire Warsaw Pact (except Poland) used. “Friendly” states were also supplied. From 1971 onwards, over 2,800 of the further development L-39 Albatros were built. His successor L-159 ALCA ( A dvanced L ight C ombat A ircraft) is currently ( 2004 offer) worldwide.

After the end of socialism, the company lost a large part of its sales market in the former Eastern Bloc. For a few years there was cooperation with Boeing , but this only increased sales of the aircraft insignificantly. Therefore, in 2004 the Czech government decided to buy back Boeing's stake in Aero. In October 2006, the Topolánek government decided to open the state-owned joint-stock company Aero Vodochody a. s. including the airport and the property to the Czech-Slovak investor group Penta Investments .

A partnership exists with the Sikorsky Aircraft Corporation , for which Aero produces parts of the Sikorsky S-76 helicopter . Aero currently manufactures center wings of the C-27 Spartan for Alenia Aeronautica . Most recently, Aero and Israel announced the development of the F / A-259 Striker fighter aircraft , a further development of the L-159.

The company's headquarters with its own airfield (10/28) is located 15 kilometers north of Prague between Odolena Voda , Panenský Týnec and Vodochody in Okres Praha-východ on the D8 motorway .

Coordinates: 50 ° 13 ′ 12 ″  N , 14 ° 24 ′ 14 ″  E

Aero automobiles

The company started building automobiles in 1929. The first Aero 10 model was based on the Enka by Břetislav Novotný. The Aero 18 followed in 1931 and the Aero 20 in 1933 .

Sporty front-wheel drive cars with the type designations Aero 30 and Aero 50 have been produced since 1934 .

The aero models were simple but also very reliable. They have been used in a wide variety of motor sport events ( Monte Carlo Rally , 1000 Miles of Czechoslovakia ) and long distance driving.

The prototypes Pony and Rekord made during the war no longer went into series production. Instead, the two-cylinder model (616 cm³, 15 kW) Jawa Minor II developed by Jawa during the war years and produced elsewhere was marketed as the Aero Minor . Production ended in 1951.

See also

Web links

Commons : Aero Airplanes and Automobiles  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. Annual Report 2018
  2. Ulrich Langer: Die Luftfahrtindustrie der ČSSR , Flieger-Jahrbuch 1981, p. 71
  3. SHERWOOD Media sro: Aero and IAI introduced multirole F / A-259 Striker aircraft (video) | AERO Vodochody AEROSPACE as Retrieved October 3, 2018 (cs-CZ).