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In the middle of 1920s our army had two main fighter planes – Letov Š-20 and Avia BH-21. Both manufacturers offered a trainer aircraft, which featured the main fuselage of the production aircraft, but with reduced weight and weaker engine Škoda HS 8Aa. Those trainers were Letov Š-21 and Avia BH-22 respectively. In the end, the army chose Avia, while Š-21 was produced in only two examples. The first Š-21 had a three-colour camouflage and was completely destroyed when its pilot Andrej Beneš couldn’t pull it out of the spin. The pilot survived thanks to the plane’s metal frame. Letov didn’t give up and built a second prototype (marked again as Š-21.1).

RWD-8 was a Polish parasol wing monoplane trainer aircraft used as a training and sports plane. The type was designed in the early 1930s by the RWD design office (Rogalski, Wigura, Drzewiecki). It became the most numerous type of aircraft manufactured in interwar Poland, and between 1934 – 1939 it was widely used by the Polish Air Force and also civilian owners, especially aeroclubs.

The Italian racing seaplane Piaggio P.7 was designed for the famous Schneider Cup in 1929. It was by no means a typical seaplane. A maritime propeller (ship screw) was to be used for take-off and only when the aircraft had gained sufficient speed and was gliding on the surface on skids, the aircraft propeller was to be engaged and used to lift the aircraft off the surface and of course win the race.

VBS Kuňkadlo is a Czechoslovak light single-seater sports aircraft. It was built by brothers Vladimír and Bohuslav Šimůnek between 1924 and 1926. The aircraft can be seen in today’s permanent exhibition at the National Technical Museum in Prague.

The Curtiss BFC-2 was basically a fighter-bomber version of the Curtiss F11C Goshawk. It was the last of the Curtiss naval fighters, outliving its planned replacement, the unfortunate BF2C. This particular machine served on USS Saratoga with the VB-3B “High Hat” squadron in 1937. 

Avia BH-3 was a fighter plane designed by Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn for Czechoslovakian Air Force and holds the position of one of the first monoplane aircraft ever put into serial production worldwide. Test pilots praised the plane’s speed and agility, however, the military pilots were less impressed, as they were used to much more stable biplanes which were easier to handle. The new Avia, on the other hand, required the pilot’s attention during every part of the flight and was difficult to land safely.

I always liked the biplane fighters of the pre-WWII period. In the RAF, one of the last biplane designs reaching the frontline service was the Gloster Gladiator. After a successful RAF introduction in mid 1935, Royal Navy’s Fleet Air Arm (FAA) showed interest in the type and had sixty Mk.II Gladiators modified for service with the FAA. These entered service in 1938 as Sea Gladiators.