Avia

Avia was a Czech aircraft and automotive company notable for producing biplane fighter aircraft (especially the B-534) and most recently trucks.

History

The company was founded by Pavel Beneš, Miroslav Hajn, Jaroslav František Koch and Václav Malý in 1919 and became part of Škoda in 1928. During the 1930s the factory became the biggest aircraft producer in Czechoslovakia and moved to Letňany in Prague, where production continues until present. 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 targeted on truck production and continued to make aircraft engines (producing only propellers from 1988). The company was split in 1992 into propeller and truck sections, both using the Avia brand.

Trucks

Early years

Soon after the war, the manufacture of fuel injection pumps, jets and roller bearings for freight vehicle transport was implemented in Avia. The factory also provided repair of trucks. In frame of the Czechoslovak industry post-war reorganization it was subsequently decided that Avia would be fully transformed into the manufacture of new trucks. As early as 1946 a prototype of the Škoda R-706 vehicle was developed, and the first vehicle and bus series was manufactured in 1947. These products were successfully exported to many countries

Avia (river)

The Avia River is a tributary of the Miño River with a length of 36.7 kilometres (22.8 mi). It begins in the serra of the Suído at a height of 880 metres (2,890 ft) in the place called Fonte Avia (municipality of Avión). It follows an SO-NL direction after arriving to the artificial lake of Albarellos, between the municipalities of Leiro, Boborás and Avión. After the artificial lake it continues until Boborás, turning there in SL direction. It flows in Ribadavia. Its tributaries include the Maquiáns River, Viñao River, and Arenteiro River, and it runs past the communities of Boborás, Leiro, and Ribadavia.

See also

Avia (shoes)

Avia is an American shoe company founded in Oregon in 1979 by Jerry Stubblefield. Stubblefield reportedly came up with the word "avia" (derived from the Latin "avis", meaning "bird") while on a jet flight, and decided to use it as a brand name for a sports shoe to suggest aviation.

History

Jerry Stubblefield and his son Don Stubblefield developed shoe designs that revolutionized athletic footwear. The father-and-son tandem created designs such as the widely-imitated cantilever sole, which helped make Avia an industry leader. In 1987, Avia was acquired by Reebok for $180 million, which later sold it to the American Sporting Goods Corporation in the latter-1990s. As of 2011, American Sporting Goods Corporation operated as a subsidiary of Brown Shoe Company. The Brown Shoe Company sold Avia and its Nevados brand to Galaxy Brand Holdings for $74 million in May 2013.

Avia's present Sales Manager is former long-distance runner Dave Edge, who represented Canada at two consecutive Summer Olympics in the men's marathon.