The A.102 was a Czechoslovak fighter aircraft of the early 1930s that showed a big difference in design patterns from other previous Czechoslovak fighters. it was ordered by the MNO (Czechoslovak Defence Ministry) and was intended to be the state of the art of the national aeronautical industry.
It was powered by an 800hp Gnome-Rhône Mistral radial engine, it was made of all-metal and was to be armed with four 7,7mm machine-guns.
Initially it was going to be a biplane, however it was decided to turn it into a gull-winged monoplane just because it was the most fashionable trend in central Europe during the early-to-mid 1930s.
The first of two prototypes flew for the first time in July 1934 with four Czech Model 30 guns installed in the wings in order to fire outboard of the propeller arc. Both climb rate and maneouvrability were good and there were plans to install a more powerful 930hp Mistral-Major Krsd engine in one of the prototypes but given the poor landing characteristics, it was discarded.
Even if those previously mentioned rates were good, the lack of flaps, the excessive wing loading rate and the touch-down speed of 110km/h were rated as excessive by the MNO. It suffered a forced landing and an accident in 1936 but the prototype was restored in 1937 in order to exhibit it at the national aircraft exhibition, but by that year the MNO the Avia B.35 monoplane to be better and further development of the A.102 wasn't continued.
There are unconfirmed rumours that one of the two prototypes ended up fighting in the Spanish Civil war, in the Republican side.
Sources:
1. The complete book of fighters
2.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aero_A.102
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