SPAD S

SPAD S.VII

Just prior to WWI, the SPAD company was rescued from bankruptcy by the French aviator Louis Bleriot, and produced a number of unremarkable two seat fighters. In 1915, the company designed the S.V, which became the precursor to the very successful SPAD S.VII. The plane was first fielded in September of 1916, and was supplied to Italy (214 planes), the USA (189), Britain (185), Russia (43) and Belgium (15). Some 6,000 aircraft were built, and post-war surplus planes were sold to Brazil, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Peru, Poland, Portugal Romania, Thailand, and Yugoslavia. The success of the S.VII ultimately lead to the development of the even more famous S.XIII.

The plane has an endurance of 2 hours 15 minutes and a range of 225 miles. A full load of fuel and ammo costs $11.

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Recon Fighter wings with Biplane option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 134-kW HP gasoline engine with 134-kW old prop and 30-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 8 Body

Armor F RL B T U

Body: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wings: 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C 1/2C

Wheels: 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3 2/3

Weaponry:

Aircraft LMG/7.7mm Vickers .303 LMG [Body:F] (500 rounds).

Statistics:

Size: 20'x26'x7' Payload: 0.25 tons Lwt.: 0.82 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 128 hours Cost: $2,460

HT: 7. HPs: 15 Body, 50 each Wing, 3 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 119 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 22 aMR: 5.5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 40 mph. Take Off and Landing Runs: 160 yards.

gSpeed: 205 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 0.5 gSR: 2

Ground Pressure: High. 1/6 Off-Road Speed.

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 192 sf. Design loaded weight was 1572 lbs.; it was increased 4% to the historical. Design aSpeed was 124 mph. Historical values were used for all calculations when available. MG load-out and fuel capacity are a guess. The Body MG is synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8). Using the calculated gSpeed at 1/6 Off-Road speed (34 mph) gSpeed is still 85% of stall speed, so the plane could therefore potentially get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

The S.V (1915) served as the prototype for the S.VII.

The S.XII (1917) was armed with a 37mm cannon and powered by a 149-kW engine. 300 built.

The SPAD 62 and SPAD 72 (1923) were used as trainers.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS