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Renard R.38

1939 WORLD WAR 2 X-PLANE

Renard R. 38 Stories

Before the German invasion of May 1940 during World War II (1939-1945), the Belgians did their best to develop and field domestic modern fighter jets. The Renard Group had previously tried its "Epervier" (lost to the British Fairey "Firefly II"), R. 36 (the only prototype crashed and took the life of a test pilot) and R. 37 (the vanquished in 1940) The only example adopted by the Germans).

The R. 38 would be the last notable addition to Renard's line of metal monoplanes, a design that also fell into the hands of the Germans after their conquest of Belgium.

R. 38 was developed with R. 37. The R. 37 was essentially a radial-engined version of the earlier inline R. 36. As such, the R.38 shares more in common with the R.36 in both form and function, with the main difference being the switch to a Rolls-Royce 'Merlin II' inline 1,030 hp engine. The wing plan seen in the R. 36 and R. 37 was reused in the R. 38 to speed up and simplify its development, and the armament was changed to 4 x machine guns - caliber 7.7mm or 13.2mm - and these mounted on the wing.

The improved aircraft is a sleek and elegant all-metal structure and all-metal skin. Its pilot is completely enclosed by a framed canopy, and the landing gear is retractable in a tail-towing configuration - all modern-quality combat mounts.

The first flight in prototype form took place during the 4 invasion of neighboring Poland). However, the R. 38 progressed so slowly that it was still in development when the Germans turned their attention to the west and took over Belgium, the rest of the Netherlands and eventually France).

Despite fierce resistance, the Belgian state was attacked by the Germans, and the only R.38 prototype was taken over by the Luftwaffe and flown to Bordeaux for a thorough inspection. It was eventually scrapped when there were few foreign fighter jets.

When finished (and flown), the R. 38 is similar in size to the original R. 36, with an overall length of 28.10 feet, a wingspan of 38.2 feet, and a height of 9.6 feet. Performance includes a top speed of 340 mph and a range of up to 840 miles. Curb weight is 4,300 pounds, and MTOW is 5,730 pounds.