SPAD S.XIII

SPAD S.XIII
Type:	Fighter plane
Design country:	France
Manufacturer:	Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés
First flight:	April 4, 1917
Commissioning:	1917
Production time:	1917-1918
Number of pieces:	8472

The SPAD S.XIII was a French biplane - fighter plane and arrived in 1917 in the First World War for use.

History and construction

The forerunners of the SPAD S.XIII were the French Nieuport fighters and the SPAD S.VII , which had been in service since September 1916. These types were inferior to the more modern German Albatros fighter aircraft , so the most famous French fighter pilot, Georges Guynemer , demanded a more powerful version.

Chief designer Louis Béchereau then built the S.XII and the S.XIII armed with a cannon . This two-handled double-decker was the further development of the SPAD S.VII. At first glance, there was little difference between the two aircraft: the fuselage and wings were fabric-covered wooden structures with aluminum sheets in the front fuselage area. Upper and lower wings were of the same length and were designed without staggering; Ailerons were attached to the upper wings and the tail unit modified. The machine had a two-wheeled chassis and a tail spur.

However, its designer Louis Béchereau had worked out various improvements for the SPAD S.XIII, such as: B. the slightly increased wingspan, enlarged ailerons and the aerodynamically improved fuselage. In addition, the S.XIII was equipped with a second machine gun. A more powerful engine had also been installed, a Hispano-Suiza 8B with a reduction gear, which drove a wider propeller. Later, the Hispano-Suiza-8BEc engine, which was even more powerful with 235 hp, was installed. This considerably increased the flight characteristics that were already excellent in the S.VII. This made the S.XIII faster than the British Sopwith Camel and the German Fokker D.VII . Due to its stability, it had excellent swooping properties. However, the aircraft was less manoeuvrable, especially at low speeds, and difficult to land for beginners.

Versions

About 300 SPAD S.XIII ca.1 with a 3.7cm Puteaux cannon embedded in the V-engine were supplied, but were not very popular as the recoil and powder gases affected the pilot.

The Navy received the SPAD S.XIV with floats in November 1917.

In the summer of 1918 the SPAD S.XVII appeared with a 300 HP engine, 20 of which were delivered to the Escadrille SPA3 "Les Cicognes".

Another variant of the S.XIII for aerial reconnaissance was the S.XVII .

Due to the end of the war, the SPAD S.XXI, a planned further development of the S.XIII, did not materialize. The SPAD S.XXIV, a fighter aircraft with a wheeled undercarriage for use by aircraft carriers, which was completed only a few days before the armistice, came too late for use.

commitment

After the first flight on April 4, 1917, orders were immediately placed by the Aéronautique Militaire , and by the end of May 1917 the first S.XIII were in service at the front.

The S.XIII showed impressive capabilities in use, so that around 10,000 machines were ordered, but due to a lack of demand, the remaining deliveries were canceled at the end of the war.

The S.XIII was delivered to 80 squadrons of the French air force. a. also to Escadrille 10 of the Belgian Aviation Militaire , eleven Squadriglie of the Italian Aeronautica Militare , among them the Squadriglie 77a and 91a, the No. 23 Squadron of the British Royal Flying Corps and 16 Aero Squadronds of the United States Army Air Service in France. The USA shipped 435 of their 893 SPAD S.XIII to America and kept them in service until 1920, where they were equipped with 180 hp Wright Hispano electric motors.

The most successful allied fighter pilots on the SPAD S.XIII were René Fonck , Georges Guynemer , Léon Bourjade , Charles Nungesser , Jean Chaput , Ernest Maunoury , Francesco Baracca and Eddie Rickenbacker .

A total of 8472 copies of this type were built. Many machines were exported to Belgium, Japan , Poland and Czechoslovakia after the war . Six SPAD XIII CI have been preserved.

• 

  SPAD XIII Georges Guynemer

• 

  SPAD XIII René Fonck

• 

  SPAD XIII Edward Rickenbacker

• 

  SPAD XIII David "Duffy" Lewis

Performance comparison

Performance comparison of single-seaters in the front line at the end of the First World War :

Surname	Country	First flight	Commissioning	Engine power	Max. speed	Takeoff mass	Armament ( MG )	Summit height	number of pieces
Albatros D.III	German Empire	1916-08-01	1917-01-15	170 hp	165 km / h	886 kg	2	5,500 m	1352
SE5a	United Kingdom	1916-11-22	1917-03-15	200 hp	222 km / h	880 kg	2	5,185 m	5205
Sopwith Camel	United Kingdom	1916-12-31	1917-06-15	130 hp	185 km / h	659 kg	2	5,791 m	5490
Sopwith Dolphin	United Kingdom	1917-03-23	1918-02-15	200 hp	211 km / h	890 kg	2	6,100 m	2072
Albatros D.Va	German Empire	1917-04-15	1917-07-15	185 hp	187 km / h	937 kg	2	6,250 m	2562
Palatinate D.IIIa	German Empire	1917-04-15	1917-08-15	180 hp	181 km / h	834 kg	2	6,000 m	750
SPAD S.XIII	France	1917-04-30	1917-05-31	220 hp	222 km / h	820 kg	2	6,650 m	8472
Nieuport 28	France	1917-06-14	1918-03-15	160 hp	195 km / h	740 kg	2	5,200 m	300
Fokker Dr.I	German Empire	1917-07-05	1917-09-01	130 hp	160 km / h	585 kg	2	6,500 m	420
Sopwith Snipe	United Kingdom	1917-10-31	1918-08-30	230 hp	195 km / h	955 kg	2	6,100 m	497
LFG Roland D.VIa	German Empire	1917-11-30	1918-05-15	160 hp	190 km / h	820 kg	2	5,500 m	353
Siemens-Schuckert D.IV	German Empire	1917-12-31	1918-08-15	160 hp	190 km / h	735 kg	2	8,000 m	123
Fokker D.VII	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-04-15	180 hp	189 km / h	910 kg	2	6,000 m	800
Fokker D.VIIF	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-04-15	226 hp	205 km / h	910 kg	2	7,000 m	200
Palatinate D.VIII	German Empire	1918-01-24	1918-09-15	160 hp	190 km / h	740 kg	2	7,500 m	120
Palatinate D.XII	German Empire	1918-03-31	1918-07-15	160 hp	180 km / h	902 kg	2	5,640 m	750
Fokker D.VIII	German Empire	1918-05-31	1918-07-31	110 hp	204 km / h	605 kg	2	6,300 m	289

Countries of operation

 Germany

 Argentina

 Belgium

 Brazil

 Czechoslovakia

 France

 Greece

 Italy

 Japan

 Poland

 Russia

Siam ( Thailand )

Spain

 Turkey

 United Kingdom

 United States

 Uruguay

Technical specifications

Parameter	Data
crew	1
length	6.30 m
span	8.20 m
height	2.42 m
Wing area	22.1 m²
Empty mass	566 kg
Max. Takeoff mass	820 kg
Top speed	222 km / h at an altitude of 2000 m
Rate of climb	2 m / s
Service ceiling	6650 m
Flight duration fully fueled	2 h
Range with a full tank	515 km
Engines	1 × Hispano-Suiza-8Be -V8 engine with 164 kW (220 PS)
Armament	2 Vickers machine guns , caliber 7.7 mm, firing forward, synchronized, with 500 rounds each

See also

• List of aircraft types

literature

• Enzo Angelucci, Paolo Matricardi: Airplanes from the beginnings to the First World War. Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9 .
• Enciclopedia Ilustrada de la Aviación , Vol. 11, Editorial Delta, Barcelona 1984 ISBN 84-85822-97-8 , p. 2860
• Karlheinz Kens, Hanns Müller: The aircraft of the First World War 1914–1918. Munich 1973, ISBN 3-453-00404-3
• Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968
• Heinz J. Nowarra : The Development of Airplanes 1914-18. Munich 1959
• Michael Sharpe: Biplanes, Triplanes, and Seaplanes. Friedman / Fairfax Books, London 2000 ISBN 1-58663-300-7 .
• Jim Winchester: Fighter. The World's Finest Combat Aircraft. 1913 to the Present Day. Barnes & Noble Publishing, Inc. and Parragon Publishing 2006, ISBN 0-7607-7957-0
• Wilfried Copenhagen , Rolf Neustädt: The large aircraft type book. Transpress Verlag, Berlin

Web links

Commons : SPAD S.XIII  - collection of images, videos and audio files

• Spad S.XIII, flight demonstration
• Air Force Association Fact Sheet (pdf)
• Spad S. XIII after a Belgian illustration
• description

Individual evidence

1. ^ Scale Aircraft Drawings Volume I - World War I.
2. ↑ cf. Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968
3. ↑ cf. Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968
4. ↑ cf. Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968
5. ↑ cf. Kenneth Munson: Fighter Planes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968
6. ↑ according to Kenneth Munson: Combat Airplanes 1914-19. Zurich: Orell-Füssli 1968 235 hp