SPAD S

SPAD S.XIII

The S.XIII was the culmination of a series of single seat fighter planes produced by the Societe Pour l'Aviation et ses Derives (SPAD) for the Allied forces in WWI. It was the one of the most-produced planes of WWI, with 8,472 examples built. It was used by nearly all the Allied forces, including France, England, Italy, Belgium and the United States. Post-war, the craft was exported to Japan, Czechoslovakia and Poland. At its introduction in May 1917, the S.XIII's superior speed and durability countered the effectiveness of contemporary German aircraft, and the plane was in very high demand. It did, however, suffer from poor maneuverability at slow speeds, poor gliding characteristics, and a very sharp stall. Eventually, in the summer of 1918, it was outclassed by the Fokker D.VII; nevertheless, some 10,000 unfulfilled orders were canceled at war's end. The plane continued in U.S. service until 1920.

The plane has an endurance of 2 hours. 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: 164-kW HP gasoline engine with 164-kW old prop and 30-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 1 XCS Body

Cargo: 8.9 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:

2xAircraft LMG/7.7mm Vickers .303 LMG [Body:F] (250 rounds each).

Statistics:

Size: 20'x26'x8' Payload: 0.21 tons Lwt.: 0.93 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 122 hours Cost: $2,686

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

aSpeed: 134 aAccel: 4 aDecel: 19 aMR: 5 aSR: 1

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

gSpeed: 212 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

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

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 217 sf. Design loaded weight was 1670 lbs.; it was increased 10% to the historical. Design aSpeed as 132 mph. Historical values were used for all calculations when available. MG load-outs are a guess; no exact figures are available, but one source quoted a 320 lb. "military load" (whatever that means). The Body MGs are synchronized, lowering RoF by 10% (see p. W:MP8). Using the calculated gSpeed at 1/6 Off-Road speed (35 mph) gSpeed is still 88% of stall speed, so the plane could therefore potentially get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

The S.VII (1916) had a 112-kW engine. It was armed with a single Vickers LMG. Its huge success until early 1917 caused the French ace Georges Guynemer to lobby for an improved version, which became the S.XIII.

The S.XII (1917) had a 149-kW engine, and increased armament to one LMG and one 37mm cannon. It met with limited success.

The S.XVII (1918) had a 224-kW engine. The armament was reduced to one MG, but had two cameras for reconnaissance missions. Only 20 examples were built before war's end.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS