What was the A.304 based on?

Short answer

On its own civil origins: the A.304 was the militarized version of the Aero A.204 airliner. It was a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft for three to four occupants, of mixed construction, with retractable tailwheel gear, an all-metal fuselage covered partly in fabric and partly in duralumin sheet.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Avro Anson 652A Mk IL-Bit (CC BY SA), vía commons

A repurposed airliner

The Aero A.304 didn't start life as a military aircraft, but as a civil transport, the Aero A.204. That aircraft had been developed specifically for ČSA, but the national airline instead chose a British product, the Airspeed Envoy. With no customer in sight, Aero went on to develop a military version, the A.304. When the company failed to find buyers for the design, it militarized it and successfully marketed it to the Czechoslovak Air Force.

What the aircraft looked like

It was a low-wing, twin-engine aircraft for three to four occupants, of mixed construction, with retractable tailwheel landing gear. The fuselage was all-metal, covered partly in fabric and partly in duralumin sheet. The two Walter Super Castor I-MR engines were housed in nacelles and mounted flexibly on tubular steel supports.

Service and end

The aircraft were to be delivered to the Czechoslovak Air Force in a quantity of fifteen units. After Nazi Germany occupied Bohemia, Moravia, and Silesia in March 1939, the aircraft were seized by the Luftwaffe.