| Product Description : 1950s AVIA Aviation Aircraft Automotive Truck Company Logo Uniform Screw Badge - A rare vintage AVIA logo pin, it is made from gold coloured metal with oven baked enamels and I would estimate, according to the manufacturing style to be from the late 1950s or early 1960's. It has a ferrule screw fastener and is 2cm in diameter.
Historical Background
Avia was founded in 1919 and during the 1930s the factory became the biggest aircraft producer in Czechoslovakia and moved to Letnany. During World War II Avia produced aircraft for the German Luftwaffe. After the war the company was nationalized and became involved in the automotive industry. It manufactured aircraft up to 1963, then continued to make aircraft engines (producing only propellers from 1988) and targeted truck production. The company was split in 1992 into propeller and truck sections, both using the Avia brand.
After the war, Czechoslovakia's aircraft industry was left with a lot of uncompleted Messerschmitt Bf 109 airframes but no Daimler-Benz engines, and a lot of Junkers Jumo engines but no bomber airframes. These parts were combined into the Avia S.199. The bomber engine gave too much torque at high power, as when taking off, and combined with the narrow undercarriage, this meant many accidents. The bigger engine made the S.I99 nose heavy, which was a particularly bad way to be during landing. Due to its awful handling characteristics and mismatched parentage, the S. 199 was nicknamed the Mezek ('Mule'). Desperate for any sort of fighter, Israel bought 25 in 1948. Although a valuable morale booster, the S.199s were as dangerous to IAF pilots as to the enemy, and three-quarters were written off within a year.
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