During WW 2, Czechoslovakia
had been building
Bf 109 G-14 for Luftwaffe,
and when the war ended,
the Czechs had enough
parts to produce the Avia C 10,
in service called S-99.
However, their supply of DB 605AS
engines were destroyed
after building no more than 20
planes, so they equipped
the remaining airframes with
the Jumo 211F powerplant.
The resulting aircraft,
the Avia S-199, had a
cowling, spinner and propeller
different from the earlier
type. Due to its bad handling
characteristics, the
pilots nicknamed it "Mule".
Nevertheless, in 1948,the
Czechs managed to sell a few
planes to Israel, where
they immediately saw action
with the Chel Ha'Avir
during the War of Independence.
However, the Israeli
pilots, too, disliked them, and, as
better planes became
available to their air force,
the S-199 was soon phased
out of service.
