11/15/2022. Remarks by
Johan Visschedijk: "Flown in 1925, the Š 20 was a rotund unequal-span single-bay biplane of mixed construction, with a 300 hp Skoda HS 8Fb liquid-cooled engine and Lamblin strut-type radiators on the front landing gear legs. Armament comprised two synchronized 0.303 in (7.7 mm) Vickers machine guns. Whereas the upper wing of the first prototype was mounted with no gap above the fuselage, the series model introduced a narrow gap and an inverted V-cabane, the upper fuselage decking being recontoured to improve view from the cockpit.
Letov Š 20 (10E) (
Johan Visschedijk Collection)
In 1926, the prototype, often referred to as Š 20M, was the winner in a contest for a new fighter for the Czechoslovakian AF, and a total of 105 was built for that service. The Š 20 took fourth place at the International Air Meeting in Zurich, Switzerland in 1927, the type serving with all three air regiments of the Czechoslovakian AF. Ten examples were exported to the Latvian Air Force (as the Š 201), one experimental model was completed with a slimmer fuselage (as the Š 20R) and another was fitted with a Walter-built Bristol Jupiter air-cooled radial of 480 hp (as the Š 20J). This last-mentioned model attained an altitude of 28,543 ft (8 700 m)."
