Avia 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 Let?any in Prague, where production continues until present. During World War 2 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.
In
1956 and
1957 Avia made a small series of twelve (or fifteen) light automobiles, completely built from aluminium sheet. These cars had a single centrally-placed driver's seat and steering column up front and two rear seats, a sliding cabin for access, and a rear-mounted two-cylinder engine with exactly the same displacement as the 350cc Jawa motorcycle engine, but it was a completely different development. The engine produced 15 PS (11 kW). Two examples of this car still survive, at least one of which is a monoposto streamliner.