Salmson Sal II

Salmson Sal II
Type:	Reconnaissance plane
Design country:	France
Manufacturer:	Salmson
First flight:	1917
Commissioning:	1917/1918
Number of pieces:	3200

The Salmson Sal II was a French reconnaissance aircraft that was used in the First World War .

development

Sal II was created at the Societé des Moteurs Salmson in Billancourt (Seine). Salmson was actually known as an engine manufacturer, but also began developing aircraft in 1916. First of all, the Salmson-Moineau SM-1 , a 2 t heavy three-seater reconnaissance aircraft with a wingspan of 17.47 m, a wing area of 70 m² and a length of 10.49 m as well as the unusual design, was created according to the design by Lieutenant René Moineau . that the radial engine built into the fuselage drove two propellers attached to the side via shafts and gave the machine a speed of 130 km / h. The prototype appeared in 1916 with a 160 hp Salmson P-9 engine. The engine power was too weak, so a 240 hp Salmson engine was installed in 1917. Ten aircraft were built and four briefly deployed in late 1917, but the performance of the SM-1 was too weak and did not achieve great success. A twin-engine variant was also tested.

In 1917, the Salmson D followed with a 130 hp Clerget engine, which, however, also did not go into series production. The aircraft was less like its predecessor, the SM-1, but more like the Sopwith 1½ Strutter , which was manufactured under license by Salmson . Another variant of the prototype was equipped with the nine-cylinder radial engine from Canton-Unné and was named Salmson II Ailerons. After acceptance by the military authorities on April 29, 1917, the aircraft went into series production to replace the now outdated Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Dorand AR.2 .

commitment

In versions A.2 as a reconnaissance aircraft and B.2 as a light bomber aircraft, the Salmson II appeared at the front around the same time as the Bréguet 14 at the end of 1917. It was used as a day bomber , ground attack aircraft or photo reconnaissance aircraft, for which a camera with a flap door could be permanently installed. The aircraft turned out to be very robust and powerful. However, the excessive distance between the pilot and the observer made communication difficult. Overall, however, the Sal II always lagged behind its competition in terms of popularity and economic success; Especially in the operational role as a bomber, the Bréguet 14 was clearly preferred in the front line units. Nevertheless, 3,200 machines were produced, 2,200 of which were supplied by Salmson, the rest by the manufacturers Latécoère , Hanriot and Desfontaines. On the western front, 22 squadrons of the French Aéronautique Militaire flew this type, in Italy two more. 705 aircraft went to the American associations . They received eleven squadrons, some with a Lewis MG on the upper wing, and some with a synchronized Merlin MG, to bridge the gap until the DH4A Liberty Plane was delivered .

variants

Salmson 2 A.2

In addition to the two-seater version Salmson II D.2 as a training aircraft with double control, Salmson developed the following successor models:

Salmson Sal III C.1 as a single-seater hunter.

Salmson Sal IV Ab.2 with an extended and armored fuselage as a ground attack aircraft, produced in small quantities until the end of the war.

Salmson Sal V as a further development of Sal II

Salmson Sal VII , in which the pilot and observer cockpit have been moved closer together. Due to the end of the war, the planned series production was stopped.

Technical specifications

Parameter	Sal II A2	Sal II D.2	Sal III C.1	Sal IV Ab.2	Sal V A.2	Sal VII
Construction year	Early 1918	1918
commitment	Scouts, bombers	Trainer aircraft	Hunter	Attack aircraft	spotter	Scouts, bombers
crew	2		1	2
length	8.50 m		6.40 m	8.80 m	7.70 m
height	2.90 m		2.48 m	2.96 m	2.82 m
span	11.80 m		9.85 m	15.20 m	11.75 m
Wing area	36.4 m²		24.00 m²	49.28 m²		38.70 m²
Empty mass	831 kg		696 kg	1410 kg
Takeoff mass	1341 kg		1026 kg	1935 kg
Top speed	188 km / h near the ground 185 km / h at 2000 m 173 km / h at 4000 m 168 km / h at 5000 m		215 km / h at 2000 m	147 km / h at 1000 m	169 km / h at 2000 m	190 km / h
Climb performance	3:55 min at 1000 m 7:13 min at 2000 m 17:20 min at 4000 m 27:30 min at 5000 m		2:44 min at 1000 m	8:21 min at 1000 m
Service ceiling	6200 m
Range	550 km
Flight duration	3 h
Standard engine	Salmson (Canton Unné 9Z radial engine)	Clerget	Salmson CU 9z
Starting power	260 hp (191 kW)	130 hp (96 kW)	275 hp (202 kW)
Armament	1 Vickers or Marlin machine gun 1-2 Lewis machine guns 230 kg bombs

Post-war use

Japanese Otsu 1

After the war, the civilian version of the Salmson limousine was created by converting military aircraft into passenger aircraft , which offered space for two passengers in a closed cabin. In addition, numerous Sal II were used as mail planes. Pilot René Cornemont and his observer Pierre-Georges Latécoère completed the first post flight Toulouse - Barcelona on December 25, 1918 ; until 1923 regular flights followed by several Salmson Sal II to Morocco .

Many machines were to smaller Air Force issued so used next to the Aviation Militaire Belge , the young Polish Air Force until 1920, 45 machines, also took place in Japan for a short time a licensed production of approximately 1,000 aircraft under the military designation Otsu 1 or Kawasaki Salmson , of which ever 300 built by Kawasaki or the army aircraft workshops in Tokorozawa. Individual aircraft were in service in Czechoslovakia , Peru and the Soviet Union after the war .

swell

Individual evidence

↑ Angelucci, Enzo; Matricardi, Paolo: Airplanes from the beginnings to the First World War . Falken-Verlag Sicker, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9 , p. 163.
↑ Salmson 2A2 on worldwar1.com, accessed July 18, 2017.

literature

Angelucci, Enzo; Matricardi, Paolo: Airplanes from the beginnings to the First World War . Falken-Verlag Sicker, Wiesbaden 1976, ISBN 3-8068-0391-9 .
Davilla, James J .; Soltan, Arthur M .: French Aircraft of the First World War , Stratford, Connecticut; from: Flying Machines Press, 1997. ISBN 0-9637110-4-0
Kens, Karlheinz; Müller, Hanns: The aircraft of the First World War 1914–1918. Munich 1973, ISBN 3-453-00404-3 .
Munson, Kenneth: Bomber, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft 1914-1919 , Orell-Füssli-Verlag, Zurich
Nowarra, Heinz: The development of aircraft 1914–1918 , Munich 1958

Web links

Commons : Salmson Sal II - collection of images, videos and audio files