In 1932,
ČKD-Praga, the aircraft department of the Czechoslovak company
Praga, entered a competition to design a new fighter for the
Czechoslovak Air Force, with its design, the BH-44,) and
Letov (the
Š-231). The BH-44 was a single-
bay biplane of mixed construction, with wooden wings and a fabric covered, steel-tube fuselage. Powerplant was a single
Praga ESV water-cooled
V12 engine. The first prototype made its maiden flight on 19 July 1932. Performance was unimpressive, as the engine delivered only instead of the promised . A second prototype (sometimes called the EH-144), fitted with a
supercharged Praga ESVK engine, flew in April 1934, but performance remained disappointing. The first prototype was therefore re-engined with a
Rolls-Royce Kestrel VII, flying in this form on 30 October 1934, and as such was evaluated by the Czechoslovak Air Force as the E-44. The imported Kestrel engine worked poorly with the fuel used by the Air Force, however, and the type was rejected, the B-34 being purchased instead. ==Specifications (ESV engine, performance estimated) ==