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The Praga BH-44 (designated E-44 by the Czechoslovak Air Force) was a prototype Czechoslovak fighter
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
of the early 1930s. Only two were built, the rival Avia B-34 being ordered instead.
Design and development
In 1932,ČKD-Praga
ČKD-Praga (Českomoravská-Kolben-Daněk Prague) was a Czechoslovakian aircraft manufacturer. The company was founded in 1915 as an engine manufacturing company, under the designation Praga. The company started designing aircraft in 1930–31 whe ...
, the aircraft department of the Czechoslovak company Praga, entered a competition to design a new fighter for the Czechoslovak Air Force, with its design, the BH-44, competing against designs from Avia
Avia Motors s.r.o. is a Czech automotive manufacturer. It was founded in 1919 as an aircraft maker, and diversified into trucks after 1945. As an aircraft maker it was notable for producing biplane fighter aircraft, especially the B-534. Avia ...
(the B-34Green and Swanborough 1994, p. 36.) and Letov Letov can refer to:
* Letov Kbely, a Czech (and Czechoslovak) aircraft company
* Yegor Letov (1964–2008), Russian punk rock musician, leader of the band Grazhdanskaya Oborona
* Sergey Letov
Sergey Fyodorovich Letov (russian: Серге́й Ф ...
(the Š-231Green and Swanborough 1994, pp. 334–335.). The BH-44 was a single-bay
A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
of mixed construction, with wooden wings and a fabric covered, steel-tube fuselage. Powerplant was a single Praga ESV
Praga is a district of Warsaw, Poland. It is on the east bank of the river Vistula. First mentioned in 1432, until 1791 it formed a separate town with its own city charter.
History
The historical Praga was a small settlement located at ...
water-cooled V12 engine.
The first prototype made its maiden flight on 19 July 1932. Performance was unimpressive, as the engine delivered only instead of the promised . A second prototype (sometimes called the EH-144), fitted with a supercharged
In an internal combustion engine, a supercharger compresses the intake gas, forcing more air into the engine in order to produce more power for a given displacement.
The current categorisation is that a supercharger is a form of forced induct ...
Praga ESVK engine, flew in April 1934, but performance remained disappointing. The first prototype was therefore re-engined with a Rolls-Royce Kestrel VII, flying in this form on 30 October 1934, and as such was evaluated by the Czechoslovak Air Force as the E-44. The imported Kestrel engine worked poorly with the fuel used by the Air Force, however, and the type was rejected, the B-34 being purchased instead.
Specifications (ESV engine, performance estimated)
See also
Notes
References
*Green, William and Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. New York: Smithmark, 1994. . {{Praga aircraft BH-44 1930s Czechoslovakian fighter aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1932