AERO A 101

The Aero A.101 was a Czechoslovakian light bomber and reconnaissance biplane with a mixed design from the interwar period. In the course of serial production, in the 1930s, about 50 aircraft of this type were created. The drive was provided by a single Isotta Fraschini engine with 990 HP. The deck armament consisted of four 7.92 mm CZS vz.30 machine guns. The machine could also carry bombs weighing up to 500 kilograms. The Aero A.101 was developed as an extension of the Aero A.100 design. The main modernization changes consisted in the use of a much more powerful engine, strengthening the structure, its aerodynamic refinement and increasing the size of the aircraft. However, the Czechoslovak armed forces were not interested in buying a new machine. Interest was expressed by the government of republican Spain, which, after purchasing them, used them very quickly in the civil war of 1936-1939. Several of them were intercepted by the forces of General Franco. A small number of these machines were used by the Slovak Air Force at the beginning of World War II.