As the Belgian Aeronautique Militaire was greatly reinforced after the World War I, it was equipped with a mix amount of airplanes, ranging from British and French airplanes and even German ones, like the Fokker D.VII as war plunder. That situation created what today we would call a logistical nightmare as every type of aircraft had different engines, fuel types, spare parts... and so on.
That situation made obvious that a standarisation of their fighter fleet was needed which eventually would be completed in 1931 when they adquired the Fairey Firefly.
As, back in the mid 1920s when the standarisation/modernisation question was considered, the Nieuport-Delage NiD.29, a French fighter that entered service in 1918 was considered only as a minor improvements over their World War I counterparts, plus it was very hard to maneouver and weak.
In the meantime, in Czechoslovakia, the Avia Aviation Company, which was founded back in 1919 caught the attention of the Belgian authorities and achieved world prestige when their airplanes won various competitions all across Europe with their simple yet strong designs.
As the Avia BH-21 flew for the first time on January 1925 near Prague, by 1926 the Belgian authorities showed their interest for it. In order to evaluate them, the Belgian Defence Ministry bought one of them together with a French Dewoitine D.19 and a 420hp Bristol Jupiter powered Dewoitine D.9. Unlike later's standards, there wasn't a competing fly-off and the airplanes were delivered to the squadrons for them to evaluate.
As it was powered by the Hispano-Suiza engine that powered the NiD.29, spare parts weren't a problem and the BH-21 showed a good acrobatic performance so it was favoured by the Belgian Authorities. An order for 44 BH-21 was placed soon, five airplanes were to be constructed by Avia in Czechoslovakia and the 39 of them would be built in Belgium under license by the SABCA (Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautique - Belgian Aeronautical constructions Anonymous Society) company.
The first BH-21 arrived in Belgium on 1927 and the first Belgian built BH-21 rolled out from the factory on 14th September 1927. They served with the first group of the second regiment (I/2Aé) with base at Schaffen, close to the Belgian city of Diest.
Although the BH-21 was meant to replace the NiD.29, it served alongside with it both at Schaffen and Nivelles air bases until the early 1930s.
When the Fairey Firefly arrived on Belgium, both the NiD.29 and the BH-21 were gradually replaced and some BH-21 were transferred to the Belgian pilot school in Wevelgem where they served until 1934.
So, apparently, the bottom line is that it was intended to serve as an interim fighter between the obsolete NiD.29 and the Fairey Firefly in order to keep the SABCA's production lines active.
Sources:
1. http://www.belgian-wings.be/Webpages/Navigator/Photos/MilltaryPics/interbellum/Avia%20BH21/Avia%20BH21%20Frontpage.html
2. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
3. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_BH-21
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