Aero A.18

The Aero A.18 was a biplane fighter aircraft built in Czechoslovakia in the 1920s.

It was a development of the Ae 02 and Ae 04 fighters Aero had designed during World War I, but also borrowed from the more recent A.11 reconnaissance-bomber design.

The A.18 was designed by Antonin Vlasák and Antonin Husnik and first flew in March 1923, it was one of  three prototype fighters that Aero flew that year, but this one was selected for production over the A.19 and A.20 that competed with it.

Twenty machines saw service with the Czechoslovak Air Force in the period between the wars.

Specifications

Crew

1

Length

5.9 m (19 ft 4 in)

Wingspan

7.6 m (24 ft 11 in)

Height

2.86 m (9 ft 5 in)

Wing area

15.9 m2 (171 sq ft)

Empty weight

637 kg (1,404 lb)

Gross weight

862 kg (1,900 lb)

Powerplant

1 × BMW IIIa, 6 cyl water cooled inline piston engine,

138 kW (185 hp)

Propellers

2-bladed wooden fixed pitch propeller

Performance

Maximum speed

229 km/h (142 mph, 124 kn)

Range

400 km (250 mi, 220 nmi)

Service ceiling

9,000 m (30,000 ft)

Rate of climb

9.8 m/s (1,930 ft/min)

Wing loading

55.8 kg/m2 (11.4 lb/sq ft)

Power/mass

0.1565 kW/kg (0.0952 hp/lb)

Armament

2 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine-guns.

 

 

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