J.Davilla, A.Soltan French Aircraft of the First World War (Flying Machines)

SPAD 17

  The Aviation Militaire decided at the beginning of 1918 that a new fighter with a more powerful engine was needed to maintain air superiority. The C1 requirement called for a single-seater with two machine guns (7.7-mm or 11-mm) or a single machine gun and a 37-mm cannon. The aircraft of this category were also to be capable of carrying out high-speed reconnaissance missions and so had to have the option of being fitted with cameras. The engines available to the designers included the 300-hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb and a 320-hp ABC Dragonfly. Both the Wibault 1 and the SPAD 17 were initially fitted with the 220-hp Hispano-Suiza 8Be because problems with the 300-hp 8Fb had delayed its availability.
  The SPAD 17 was essentially a SPAD 13 redesigned to accept the new Hispano-Suiza 8Fb. The SPAD 13 airframe was modified and strengthened to accommodate the larger engine, and the fuselage was fully faired. The wing cellule was also strengthened to a load factor of 9 and the horizontal stabilizers were enlarged. The SPAD 17 was capable of carrying two cameras but in this configuration only a single machine gun could be fitted. Manufacturer trials began in April 1918, and operational trials were conducted by Capitaine de Slade in June.
  The overall dimensions were little changed from the standard SPAD 13, and the new engine endowed the aircraft with a marginally higher performance. Twenty aircraft were produced, most of them assigned to the units with GC 12 ("Les Cigognes"), which were SPA 3, SPA 26, SPA 67, SPA 103, and SPA 167. No further aircraft besides the initial test batch were acquired, possibly because the STAe had decided to standardize production on the Nieuport 29.


SPAD 17 Single-Seat Fighter with 300-hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb
   Span 8.08 m; length 6.25 m; height 2.60 m; wing area 20.00 sq. m
   Empty weight 687 kg; loaded weight 942 kg
   Maximum speed:
2,000 tn 217 km/h
3,000 m 214 km/h
4,000 m 211 km/h
5,000 m 201 km/h
   Climb:
2,000 m 5 minutes 24 seconds
3,000 m 8 minutes 20 seconds
4,000 m 12 minutes 32 seconds
5,000 m 17 minutes 21 seconds
   Ceiling 7,175 m; endurance 1.25 hours
   Armament: two 7.7-mm Vickers machine gun; only a single gun carried if the aircraft was equipped with two cameras
   A total of 20 were built



SPAD 21

  The SPAD 21 was a development of the SPAD 17. The SPAD 17's performance was almost identical to the SPAD 13 and it was probably hoped that by improving the SPAD 17's maneuverability the STAe could be persuaded to order some of these aircraft.
  Except for having upper and lower wings of equal span and chord and fitted with ailerons, the SPAD 21 was identical to the SPAD 17. The placement of ailerons on both wings was intended to improve maneuverability. However, the aircraft showed no significant improvement over the SPAD 17, and in fact its rate of climb was actually slower. Tests were undertaken in October 1918, but development was abandoned in November. Postwar, two aircraft were used to test fuel equipment.


SPAD 21 Single-Seat Fighter with 300-hp Hispano- Suiza 8Fb
   Span 8.435 m; length 6.40 m; height 2.60 m; wing area 23.5 sq. m
   Empty weight 750.5 kg; loaded weight 1,047.5 kg
   Maximum speed:
2,000 m 221 km/h
3,000 m 217 km/h
4,000 m 214 km/h
5,000 m 205 km/h
   Climb:
2,000 m 5 minutes 40 seconds
3,000 m 8 minutes 41 seconds
4,000 m 13 minutes 3 seconds
5,000 m 18 minutes 18 seconds
   Ceiling 7,000 m; endurance 1 hour and 40 minutes
   Armament: two 7.7-mm Vickers machine guns; only one gun was carried if the aircraft was equipped with two cameras