Skip Navigation or Skip to Content
A white Aero S-103 jet fighter.

Aero S-103

Between 1954 and 1958, Czechoslovakia (now the Czech and Slovak Republics) used the S-103 as its main jet fighter.

The Aero at the National Museum of Flight was the Soviet MiG-15bis, built under licence by the Aero Vodochody aircraft company.

The S-103 was superior to western jet fighters of the time. In 1953, a US Air Force jet was shot down after it strayed into Czechoslovakian airspace. 

This example was flown by the Czechoslovakian 11th Air Regiment. The crest of the city of Ostrava is painted on the nose.

Aero S-103 fact file

Date:    1956
Crew: 1 (pilot)
Top speed:  658 mph (1,059 km/h)
Range: 771 miles (1,240 km)
Weapons: 2 x 23 mm cannon
1 x 37 mm cannon
2 x 100 kg of bombs or rockets

Design of the Aero S-103

Find out more about the design of the Aero S-103 in this short animation, from 40 seconds viewing time.

Aero S-103 at East Fortune

A grey Aero S-103 aircraft parked in a large hangar.

The Aero S103 in the Military Aviation hangar at National Museum of Flight.

Crest of the city of Ostrava painted on the nose of the Aero S-103 aircraft. The crest has a blue background with a white horse and yellow flower.

Close-up of white horse image on the Aero S-103 at National Museum of Flight.

Cockpit view

Inside the cockpit of an Aero S-103 aircraft. Parts have been stripped, exposing many wires. There are six dials on the dashboard.

The cockpit of the Aero S-103.

Next aircraft >

Back to top