Development
The OA vz. 27 was the third in a line of Škoda armored cars that used the same revolutionary chassis design. The PA-I introduced the two driver concept, but it had four-wheel drive and four-wheel steering and a turret with two machine guns. Only two prototypes were built before the army asked for further improvements. The PA-II kept the same chassis, but dropped the turret in a completely new body design with curved plates that mounted a machine gun in each corner of the vehicle. The curved armor was very good ballistically, but was quite expensive to manufacture. Twelve were ordered, but the cramped fighting compartment and lack of space for both gunners to man their weapons simultaneously meant that the army was still not satisfied.
The PA-III was intended to be smaller, more mobile and less expensive than its predecessors. Flat armor plates replaced the curved armor of the PA-II and a turret was reintroduced. One prototype was bought in 1925 with an iron body and evaluated for two years before it was accepted in July 1927. Twelve chassis had already been delivered in 1925 while the Army tried to decide the best layout of the body, but it took almost another two years before the last OA vz. 27, as the Army designated the P-III, was delivered in October 1929.
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