Aero A.32

what is it?

The Aero A.32 was a biplane built in Czechoslovakia in the late 1920s for army co-operation duties including reconnaissance and tactical bombing. While the design took the Aero A.11 as its starting point (and was originally designated A.11J), the aircraft incorporated significant changes to make it suited for its new low-level role. Like the A.11 before it, the A.32 provided Aero with an export customer in the Finnish Air Force, which purchased 16 aircraft in 1929 as the A.32IF and A.32GR (which spent most of their service lives as trainers).

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · biplane · 12.4 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 226 km/htop speed
• range 420 kmwithout refuelling
• size 1,917 kgmax take-off weight
• built 116made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 99 years ago, in 1927.
• 🏎️Top speed is 1.7× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 12.4 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1927

introduced

1928

retired

1944

status

retired

number built

116

role

reconnaissance – bomber

makers

AERO Vodochody Aerospace

engines

1× Gnome-Rhône built Bristol Jupiter / Bristol Jupiter

crew

2

length

8.2 m

wingspan

12.4 m

height

3.1 m

max take-off weight

1,917 kg

top speed

226 km/h

range

420 km

ceiling

5,500 m

wings

biplane

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family