Simanaitis Says
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A HANDSOME CZECH MONOPLANE—THE AERO 45, PART 2
YESTERDAY IN PART 1, details were shared about the Aero 45, a handsome Czech monoplane built between 1947 and 1961. A goodly number of these craft continue to be airworthy, and in Part 2 today one is built for Microsoft Flight Simulator using GMax software. Note the fictitious registration: OK-GMX, OK being the Czech designation, GMX honoring this fabrication software.
Homes for my Aero 45. Prague-Ruzynĕ Airport began operations in 1937. On October 5, 2012 it became Václav Havel International, honoring the famed Czech statesman, poet, playwright, and former dissident (on what would have been Havel’s 76th birthday. He lived 1936-2011).
Another appropriate home base for my Aero 45 is Kunovice, located 170 miles southeast of Prague. Today, Kunovice Airport is the home of three aircraft manufacturers: Czech Sport Aircraft, Evektor-Aerotechnik and Let Kunovice. This last firm built the Aero 45 and its 145 sibling under license.
Curiously, another of Let Kunovie’s products was the L-200 Morava light utility aircraft, which, by the way, appears three pages later in Kenneth Munson’s fine Private Aircraft.
Kunovice is the home of Letecké Muzeum v Kunovicich, the Aviation Museum of Kunovice.
My GMax Fabrication. One of the software’s Primitive shapes is a tube of desired inner and outer diameter, overall length, and segmentation. It’s the perfect tool for the Aero 45’s sleek fuselage, greenhouse and all.
With GMax’s other Primitives, Box, Sphere, Cylinder, Plane, and Torus among them, the Aero gets assembled piece by piece.
GMax articulations take care of opening cabin door, engine hatches, landing gear, props, control surfaces, and pilot’s actions.
That Airy Cabin. The Aero 45 seats 4-5, with dual controls for those seated up front. The guy in tweeds and his lady friend are recycled from previous projects.
And, sure enough, they have a great view.
Díky moc (thanks a lot) to Pavel Benes, Filip Dvorak, Karel Kriz, and Martin Hrabita for providing appropriate accommodations for my Aero 45. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2022
Simanaitis Says 
So many interesting technological things have come out of Eastern Europe. I didn’t know planes were one of them. Cool.
My wife grew up in Kladno. From where she lived she could see the towers of Prague-Ruzynĕ Airport. I’ve never been to the airport but driven by many a time on the way to visit her folks.