Avia BH-3 was a Czechoslovak fighter airplane built in 1921, which was a direct descendant of the BH-1 sports plane.
It was a braced low-wing monoplane of conventional configuration and a tailskid undercarriage.
After favourable trials in June 1921, ten airplanes were ordered by the Czechoslovak Air Force and were delivered in 1923, under the military designation B.3. It proved to be temperamental in service and was shortly relegated to training duties, where it served until 1927.
The Avia BH-4 was a prototype fighter built also by the Czechoslovak Avia in 1922. It was a direct development of the BH-3 powered by a 220hp Hispano-Suiza 8Ba Vee-8 in order to improve the airplane's performance. In order to fit the new engine the airplane nose had to be considerably redesigned, and the fuselage and the undercarriage were reinforced. The performance was marginally better than the BH-3, so it wasn't worth it and it's development was abandoned.
The Avia BH-19 was another prototype built in Czechoslovakia in 1924. It also derived directly from the BH-3 and proved that the designers, Pavel Benes and Miroslav Hajn, believed that the monoplane configuration was the most suitable for a fighter aircraft (as it's obvious time proved them right). The initial test showed excellent performance but gave control problems and aileron flutter, however the Czechoslovak Army was interested and told them that they would order the airplane if those problems were solved.
However, the first prototype crashed when performing speed trials and the second one hadn't solved the problems of the first one, so, after that, the Czechoslovak Army asked Avia to cease the attempts to develop a monoplane fighter, at least during the 1920s.
Sources:
1. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_BH-3
2. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_BH-4
3.https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Avia_BH-19
4. Salamander Books - The Complete Book of Fighters
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