SPAD S.XV

SPAD S. XV Story

French aviation pioneer Louis Bechereau took over the then famous Air France group "SPAD" ("Societe Pour l'Aviation et ese Derives") in 1914 and managed it at the beginning of the First World War (1914-1918) The company). He left the company in early 1917 to found the Soviet des Avions Bernard, which later developed a series of one-off aircraft under the Bernard name.

This allowed Andre Herbemont to carry the torch at SPAD, a company best known for its successful line of biplane fighters, with his first famous design becoming the SPAD S. XV.

This biplane is mainly of conventional construction. The span of the wing main aircraft is nearly identical, with parallel struts for the support elements, resulting in a single cabin arrangement. The fuselage relies on a streamlined shape to achieve the desired aerodynamic performance, and a rounded fairing ring is fitted to the engine compartment and nose. The pilot's position (sitting in the open-air cockpit) is directly forward of the center of the boat, while the hull tapers aft with a low-profile rudder installed. Horizontal planes are added to the sides of the rear wing.

The chassis is attached to the main leg members and rolls. Internally, the plane's frame is a monocoque, and wood and canvas played a major role in the construction of this fighter.

The weapon consists of 2 x 7.7mm Vickers machine guns, synchronised to fire through rotating propeller blades.

The first form of the aircraft - S. VI/1 - was equipped with a Gnome Monosoupape rotary engine that produced 160 hp and drove a two-bladed propeller (a large spinner was located above the propeller hub). The aircraft made its first flight on July 31, 1917.

This work then led to the second prototype on page XV/2. This version simplifies engine assembly (no fairing), lengthens the main aircraft, and incorporates a new empennage design. It was evaluated from August 1917 but found to be inadequate compared to contemporaries. The dimensions of the model include a length of 5.35 meters, a height of 2.3 meters and a wingspan of 7.1 meters. The curb weight is 368 kg and the MTOW is 625 kg.

The top speed reaches 200 kilometers per hour, and the mission time is 2.5 hours.

The S. XV/3 then arrived with an extended fuselage to address control/stability issues, and this variant was flown sometime in January 1918. Still unfinished, the series developed around the S. XV/4 with the 170- 180 hp Rhone engine installed, but it appears to have only started in late April/early May 1918.

When the S. XV/5 arrived in 1919, the war was over (November 1918) and some extra work was being done on the aircraft for an air race role as new aircraft proved to be hardly needed after the war Period fighter biplane. The S. XV/5 was developed as a pair of airworthy prototypes that were heavily modified from their war forms, powered by an 80 hp Le Rona engine and seated two people.

At least one of them went to French ace Rene Funk.

Specification

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