Pavel Beneš (14 June 1894 in

Prague Prague ( ; ) is the capital and List of cities and towns in the Czech Republic, largest city of the Czech Republic and the historical capital of Bohemia. Prague, located on the Vltava River, has a population of about 1.4 million, while its P ...

– 31 May 1956 in Prague) was a chief designer at ČKD-Praga, one of the largest engineering companies in the former

Czechoslovakia Czechoslovakia ( ; Czech language, Czech and , ''Česko-Slovensko'') was a landlocked country in Central Europe, created in 1918, when it declared its independence from Austria-Hungary. In 1938, after the Munich Agreement, the Sudetenland beca ...

and today's

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. Beneš was first a founder and chief designer at

Avia AVIA () is a Soviet/Russian experimental pop band formed in Leningrad in 1986. AVIA released four studio albums and led the first wave of the Soviet bands which made their breakthrough in the West in the late 1980s. Band history AVIA was formed ...

, along with

Miroslav Hajn Miroslav Hajn (21 September 1894 in Žamberk, Austria-Hungary – 6 September 1963 in Prague, Czechoslovakia) was a chief designer at ČKD-Praga, one of the largest engineering companies in the former Czechoslovakia and today's Czech Republic ...

, in 1919. The two began repairing planes in a workshop within the complex of an old sugar factory in

. One year later, they designed their first two-seater plane, the

Avia BH-1 The Avia BH-1 was a two-seat sports plane built in Czechoslovakia in 1920. It was the first product of the Avia company, and it was originally designated BH-1 exp. The BH-1 was a low-wing braced monoplane of wooden construction, with tailskid ...

. From 1923 to 1925, the two developed the BH-7, BH-9, and BH-11 monoplanes, launching the era of biplane fighters. The BH-11 won the Coppa d' Italia prize. Three years later, their BH-21 fighter was considered one of the world's best planes. In 1930, Beneš and Hajn came to ČKD-Praga. The first aircraft they designed was the

Praga E-39 Praga E-39/BH-39 was a Czechoslovakia, Czechoslovak trainer aircraft. History This aircraft was designed by Pavel Beneš and Miroslav Hajn, engineers at the Czech aviation company ČKD-Praga in 1931. It flew for the first time in June of that y ...

in 1931. In April 1935, he joined

Jaroslav Mráz Jaroslav (also written as Yaroslav or Jarosław in other Slavic languages) is a Czech and Slovak first name, pagan in origin. Its feminine form is Jaroslava. There are several possible origins of the name Jaroslav. It is very likely that origina ...

to form the

Beneš-Mráz inž. P. Beneš a inž. J. Mráz, továrna na letadla was a Czechoslovak aircraft manufacturer of the 1930s. History Beneš-Mráz was established at Choceň by Pavel Beneš and Jaroslav Mráz on 1 Apr 1935 and manufactured a series of light airc ...

aircraft factory in

Choceň Choceň (; ) is a town in Ústí nad Orlicí District in the Pardubice Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 8,600 inhabitants. Administrative division Choceň consists of seven municipal parts (in brackets population according to the 2021 c ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Benes, Pavel Czech aerospace engineers Aviation inventors Aerodynamicists Czechoslovak inventors 1894 births 1956 deaths Engineers from Prague Aircraft designers Czech Technical University in Prague alumni