HISTORY
Aircraft Industries, a.s., operating as LET, n.p., is a Czech (formerly Czechoslovak)
civil aircraft manufacturer.
Its most successful design
has been the L-410 Turbolet,
of which more than 1200
units have been built. Its
head office is in Kunovice, Uherské
Hradiště District. LET is
since 2008 owned by Russian
company UGMK. The company
operates the sixth largest
Czech airport and a private
secondary school.
Building of an aircraft
factory in Kunovice started
in 1936, as a part of the Škoda
Works industrial concern.
Before and during World War
II the unfinished plant
served only as a repair
works. After the end of the
war the factory was
nationalized and in 1950-53
a new plant was built. In
1957-1967 it was named SPP (Strojírny
první pětiletky -
"Works of the First
Five-year Plan"), and in
1967 it returned to the name
LET. The works produced
under licence were the
Soviet trainers Yakovlev
Yak-11 (under a designation
C-11) and the Aero Ae
45 and Aero Ae 145 utility
aircraft.
In
1957 the company began to
develop the L-200
Morava light utility
aircraft and four years
later the Z-37 Cmelak agricultural
aircraft, which were both a
commercial success. For a
period of time LET also
produced a jet training
aircraft the L-29.
Over the years LET developed
and produced gliders–Zlín Z
22, Z 124 Galánka, LF 109
Pioneer, Z 425 Šohaj.
However the most popular
gliders produced by LET are
the Blaníks–L-13 Blaník, L-23 Super
Blaník and L-33 Solo.
During the 1960s LET’s
engineers developed a 19
seat commuter turboprop –
the L-410 Turbolet, of which
more than 1200 were
produced. This popular
aircraft went through a
number of improvements and
modernisations and the
latest types, the L 410
UVP-E20 and L 420 are EASA
and FAA certified
respectively.
The
largest Czech transport
aircraft Let L-610 was
produced in 1988 only in a
prototype form and displayed
at the Paris Airshow.
Production was cancelled due
to lack of funding. There
were 8 prototypes made in
the factory.
The all-metal Blaník sailplane was
produced in the largest
quantities of any sailplane,
with over 3000 manufactured
since the first rolled off
the production line in 1958.
In 2005 it was still in
production as the L23 Super
Blaník variant.
51%
of the company's shares was
purchased by UGMK in 2008; UAC has
shown interest in acquiring
the control of the company,
as well.
Source:
Wikipedia
|