Praga E-39

infobox Aircraft
name =
type = Elementary Trainer, Reconnaissance Aircraft
logo =
manufacturer = ČKD-Praga


caption =
designer = Pavel Benel and Miroslav Hajn
first flight = June 1931
introduction =
retired =
status =
primary user = Slovak Air Force
more users = Czechoslovakian Air Force
produced =
number built = 139
unit cost =
developed from =
variants with their own articles =

Praga E-39/BH-39 was a Czechoslovakian trainer aircraft.

History

This aircraft was designed by Pavel Benel and Miroslav Hajn, engineers at the Czech aviation company ČKD-Praga in 1931. It flew for the first time in June of that year. The biplane, standard configuration for that era, was an immediate success and orders were placed by the Czech Air Force that used them as elementary training aircraft at its flight schools throughout the 1930s. Pre-World War II production of the machine was 139 units. Following the German occupation of Czechoslovakia in 1939, the northern area of that country was divided politically into the separate state of Slovakia. Under a puppet German government it became a German ally and its small air force was placed under Luftwaffe control. Ten of the Praga E-39s were given to the Slovakian Air Force who initially used them as trainers but during the German invasion of the Soviet Union, transferred several of them to the Soviet front where they were employed by the Slovaks as reconnaissance platforms in support of German ground forces. Other E-39s were used by the Luftwaffe in their flight training schools as elementary trainers and still others were given to the Hungarian Air Force for use in that same role.

pecifications (E-39)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop
ref=

crew=2 (one student, one instructor)
capacity=
length main=6.88 m
length alt=22 ft 7 in
span main=9.88 m
span alt=32 ft 5 in
height main=2.54 m
height alt=8 ft 4 in
area main=
area alt=
empty weight main=609 kg
empty weight alt=1,342 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=

engine (prop)=

* BH-39NZ - 1x 89.4 kw (120 hp), Walter NZ 120, ?-cylinder air-cooled radial engine
* BH-39G - 1x 112 kw (150 hp), Walter Gemma, 9-cylinder air-cooled radial engine
* BH-39AG - 1x 112 kw (150 hp), Armstrong Siddeley Genet Major, 7-cylinder air-cooled radial engine
type of prop=
number of props=(Depending on model)
power main=
power alt=

max speed main=170 km/h
max speed alt=106 mph
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
range main=483 km
range alt=300 miles
ceiling main=3,566 m
ceiling alt=11,700 ft
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
*
*