Country of origin:

Czechoslovakia

Description:

Two-seat training and aerobatic monoplane

Power Plant:

One 119 kw (160 hp) Walter Minor 6-III six-cylinder inverted in-line air-cooled engine

Specifications:

History:

The Trener / Trener Master series of light aircraft was designed to meet a specification calling for a standard basic training aircraft that would meet the needs of both military and civil flying schools.  The prototype, the Z 26 Trener, was first flown in 1947. It was subsequently flown-off in trials with another design, the Praga E-112, and was selected for quantity production for the Czech Air Force.

The Z 26 was of wooden construction, and development led to the aircraft being re-designed and built of all-metal construction, the new model becoming known as the Z 126 Trener 2.  Later a new model appeared, the Z 226, this having the 78 kw (105 hp) Walter Minor 4-III engine of the earlier types replaced by the 119 kw (160 hp) Walter Minor 6-III engine.  The Z 226 was produced in a number of variants, including the Z 226B Bohatyr (hero) for glider towing and the Z 226T Trener 6 for military and civil training.  A total of 252 Z 226s was built.

While the Z 226 was being developed, it was decided to build a single-seat variant for aerobatic competition.  This was flown for the first time in 1956 and became known as the Z 226A Akrobat.  The fuel system was modified to permit inverted flying for up to five minutes. Construction was a welded steel-tube fuselage, the upper and lower surfaces of the fuselage being covered by detachable metal panels and the remainder by fabric.  The two-spar metal wing was covered with stressed alloy skinning.

In 1957 the Z 326 Trener Master series appeared, this basically differing from the previous models in having the two main wheels retractable, the tail-wheel being fixed.  This model was built in substantial numbers in two basic models, the Z 326 and the Z 326A Akrobat, the latter being the single-seat aerobatic variant.  Further variants developed were the Z 426, aimed at the agricultural market, which was not proceeded with, and the Z 526 Trener Master, a development of the Z 326 with a controllable-pitch propeller in place of the fixed-pitch propeller, and several other minor modifications.

A number of examples of this series are known to have been imported to Australasia.  The first was a Z 126 VH-PXB( c/n 762) first registered in November 1956 and flown by Fred Hoinville but which was extensively damaged by fire on 1 April 1963 at Bankstown, NSW, when a taxiing de Havilland DH.82 Tiger Moth collided with the parked Zlin near a fuel pump, and it was written off.

Second aircraft was a Z 326 (c/n 586) which arrived as OK-OND and became VH-DBZ in September 1962. It was exported to New Zealand in June 1964 and became ZK-CHZ. In September 1969 it was exported to the United States as N4586 and was then based in Chandler, Arizona.  In 1985 a further Z 326 was imported from the United Kingdom and became VH-ILZ (c/n 304) but it was destroyed in an accident at Gardinia, VIC on 11 August 1990.

In recent years Tomas Podesva of Podesva Air in Unicov in the Czech Republic has produced an ultralight 80% scale replica of the Zlin 126 Trener at its facility at Hranice, this aircraft, known as the Trener Baby, being distributed by Flaming Air. The first model was known as the Akro (D-EETB), being shown at an event in Berlin in May 2004, and since then production has continued with replicas of the 126, 226 and 526 being available.  A two-seater, it had dual controls and was of mixed construction, powerplant being the 56 kw (75 hp) Walter Mikron engine.  Cruising speed was 175 km/h (109 mph) and stalling speed is 65 km/h (40 mph).