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PTO-4

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PTO-4
РТО-4А
General information
TypeTrainer
ManufacturerAviotöökoda, Tallinn
Designer
Voldemar Post, Richard Tooma and Otto Org
Primary userEstonian Air Force
Luftwaffe
Number built8
History
Manufactured1938
Introduction date1938
Retired1944

The PTO-4 was an Estonian-designed military training aircraft of World War II.

In 1938, the Estonian aviation engineers Voldemar Post, Rein Tooma and Otto Org, previously responsible for the PON-1 trainer, designed and built the PTO-4 training aircraft.[1] It was a two-seat low-winged monoplane powered by a De Havilland Gypsy of 120 hp, with a fixed undercarriage that could be fitted with wheels or skis.[2] The aircraft could fly at a maximum speed of 245 km per hour and had a ceiling of 5,000 meters.[3] On 12 October 1938, the PTO-4 was taken into service of the Air Force.[4]

The Estonian Air Force received two PTO-4s (serial numbers 161 and 162), one with an open cockpit and the other an enclosed cockpit.[1] Six examples were in civil use,[5] of which five were used by the Eesti Aeroklubi (EAK), a flying club controlled by the Estonian Military.[1]

Four examples surviving from the Soviet occupation of Estonia (1940–41) were operated by the German Luftwaffe, being operated by a unit manned by Estonian volunteers (initially called Sonderstaffel Buschmann and later 1./SAGr.127) based at Reval-Ülemiste airfield. They were operated as training and liaison aircraft as well for coastal patrol over the shores of the Baltic.[6]

Operators

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 Estonia
 Germany

See also

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Related development

Related lists

References

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  1. ^ a b c Gerdessen 1982, p.71.
  2. ^ "Aircraft template".
  3. ^ "Aircraft template".
  4. ^ "Aircraft template".
  5. ^ "Aircraft template".
  6. ^ Gerdessen 1982, pp.74–75.
  • Gerdessen, F. "Estonian Air Power 1918–1945". Air Enthusiast, Eighteen, April – July 1982. Bromley, UK:Pilot Press. pp. 61–76.
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