Stampe SV.4

Established in 1922, Stampe et Vertongen was a Belgian company specializing in trainer aircraft. The SV line of craft was begun in 1933, and proved to be the company's most successful. Only a few aircraft (35) were produced before the outbreak of WWII, as the German invasion in 1940 resulted in the closing of the factory. However, production resumed in Belgium in the post-war years, and the SV was also license-produced by France and Algeria. All told, some 940 SV.4Bs were built. Despite the success of the SV.4, further models failed to maintain ongoing interest.

The pair of SV.4Bs were featured in the 1983 movie "High Road to China." The biplanes, however, are an anachronism. Production of SVs began in 1933; the movie is set in the 1920s. Furthermore, the actual model used was a post-WWII version of the Stampe SV.4. Lastly, since these planes were designed as trainers and for aerobatics, they never featured any armaments. Nevertheless, the Lewis .303 Automatic Machine Rifles featured on the planes would be cheap, reliable, and available at that time to those with the right resources.

The plane has a range of 260 miles. It burns 5.4 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage. A full load of fuel costs $3.

SV.4B

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis +2; Recon Fighter wings with High-Agility option +2; 2 fixed wheels +0.

Powertrain: 108-kW HP gasoline engine with 108-kW prop and 15-gallon fuel tank [Body].

Occ.: 2 XCS Body

Cargo: 4 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

Equipment:

Body: Backup Driver option.

Statistics:

Size: 22'x27'x9' Payload: 0.25 tons Lwt.: 0.85 tons

Volume: 96 Maint.: 151 hours Cost: $1,760

HT: 7. HPs: 15 Body, 35 each Wing, 8 each Wheel.

aSpeed: 124 aAccel: 5 aDecel: 41 aMR: 5 aSR: 1

Stall Speed: 37 mph. Take-Off and Landing Runs both 137 yards.

gSpeed: 197 gAccel: 10 gDecel: 10 gMR: 1.25 gSR: 2

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

Design Notes:

Historical wing area was 195 sf. The plane was designed with High-Agility rather than Biplane wings, as the former option more closely matched the historical SA and functional design of the plane. The fuel capacity was based on a rough calculation between cruising speed, range, and gas consumption, as no historical value could be located. Design aSpeed was 117 mph. Design Empty Weight was 12% under historical. Since the plane was historically used as a trainer, the Backup Driver option was presumed to be present. Performance calculations used historical wing area but design weight. Using the calculated gSpeed at 1/6 Off-Road speed (33 mph) gSpeed is still 90% of stall speed, so the plane could therefore potentially get airborne in a bumpy field, at the GM's discretion.

Variants:

The SV.4 (1933) was the prototype with a 89-kW engine.

The SV.4A was the first production model with a 104-kW engine.

The SV.4C was license built in the post-war era with a 104-kW engine.

The SV.4D was a single plane modified with a 130-kW engine.

From the Aerodrome for GURPS

© 2008 by Jim Antonicic