Maquette à monter – Letov Š-328v PLANET models 1/72E

In 1931, the Letov company received an order from the Ilmavoimaat, that is to say the Finnish military aviation, to adapt its S-228 training and observation aircraft into a reconnaissance and ground attack aircraft. The work began immediately and it was decided to deeply modify the S-228. So much so that the new aircraft, designated S-328, had little in common with its predecessor. It took to the air for the first time in March 1932. The Finnish officials were dragging out the discussions, so much so that the Czech government became the first customer to order the new aircraft in January 1933. That same year the Finns finally decided to order the German dive bomber Henschel Hs-123. 

The Letov S-328 was a single-engine sesquiplane biplane with a relatively substantial armament for an aircraft of this category. The tandem cockpit is open-air. However the observer has glazed surfaces on the floor and on the sides of the fuselage. The latter is entirely metal. The fixed landing gear is characterized at the rear by a steerable skid. The Bristol engine of British origin is built under license by Walter. 

The first Czech aircraft entered service in 1935. These aircraft were immediately assigned to surveillance missions on the Austro-Czech and German-Czech borders. Faced with the rise of the Nazis in Germany, the Czech government ordered more S-328s for its reconnaissance missions. During the annexation of the Sudetenland region in 1938 by the Third Reich, a total of fifteen S-328s were seized by the Luftwaffe. These aircraft were assigned to daytime reconnaissance missions near the border with the Netherlands. In 1938, Letov assembled four aircraft of the S-328V version, seaplanes that served for the Czech navy based in Yugoslavia. These seaplanes carried no bombs.

Source: OupsModel