A development of Donnet-Leveque Type A as single engined recce seaplane
Inter-Wars
Schreck, Hydravions FBA
France
Louis Schreck, the South American representative for Delaunay-Belleville automobiles, returned to France in 1909. He joined Hanriot at Juvissey and in 1911, jointly with engineer named Gaudard, designed D’Artois flying-boat.
Formed Hydravions Schreck FBA, and aided by British capital acquired Donnet-Leveque/Denhaut flying-boat patents, and was associated with that company until it was acquired by Bernard in 1934.
FBA 16 was side-by-side two-seat flying-boat; FBA 17 a utility type which established a seaplane height record in December 1923. A development was brought by US Coast Guard in 1931. In the later 1930s Schreck was carrying out flying-boat repairs and subcontract work.
Schoettler I
In 1923, the British magazine Flight reported what it termed the first successful flight of an aircraft constructed in China. This conventional biplane was designed by a German engineer, Leopold Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Schoettler. Its engine, instruments, wheels and dope for fabric covering were imported from Europe. All else was locally sourced. Work on it began in the summer of 1922.
The Schoettler I was a conventional European style two seat tractor biplane, with equal span two bay wings. These were mounted with 2° of dihedral and 597 mm, almost 2 ft, of stagger. The gap between the upper and lower planes was 1,676 mm (66 in), maintained by parallel pairs of aerofoil section struts and wire bracing. The unswept wings had a constant chord of 1,600 mm (63 in) with blunt wing tips and ailerons on both upper and lower planes. The Schoettler’s empennage was also conventional.
The fuselage was likewise a standard rectangular section wooden girder structure, fabric covered except around the engine and a wood upper decking around the open, tandem cockpits for pilot and for the observer, who sat under the wing trailing edge. It tapered to a knife-edge at the tail. At the front the 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes water-cooled upright inline engine was enclosed in a rectangular cross-section metal cowling which tapered vertically, exposing the upper cylinders, to a two-blade propeller. At the rear of the housing an external radiator, with shutters for engine temperature control, projected on each side. The Schoettler had a conventional fixed undercarriage, with the mainwheels on a rigid axle mounted on V-struts.
A first flight date was not reported, but this was on or before 23 July 1923 when the Schoettler was test flown by an ex-RAF pilot, W.E. Holland. The latter reported good handling and an excellent, 360°, field of view for the observer noting the aircraft’s potential for development. More recent articles claim the first flight by a Chinese built aircraft was that of the indigenously-designed Xianyi Rosamonde (or Dashatou Rosamonde) on 12 July 1923, though without mention of the Schoettler; the two aircraft were evidently close contemporaries.
Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes, 120 kW (160 hp)
Propeller: 2-bladed
Wingspan: 12.04 m (39 ft 6 in)
Wing area: 37.324 m2 (401.75 sq ft)
Length: 8.3503 m (27 ft 4.75 in)
Height: 3.12 m (10 ft 3 in)
Empty weight: 741 kg (1,634 lb)
Gross weight: 1,160 kg (2,558 lb)
Wing loading: 31 kg/m2 (6.3 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.063 hp/lb (103 W/kg)
Maximum speed: 206 km/h (128 mph, 111 kn) at 1,000 ft (305 m)
Cruise speed: 158 km/h (98 mph, 85 kn)
Stall speed: 72 km/h (45 mph, 39 kn)
Endurance: 4.5 h
Capacity: Two
Schoettler, Leopold Carl Ferdinand Friedrich
In late 1923 Flight reported on what was claimed to be the first successful aircraft constructed in China. It was designed by the German engineer Leopold Carl Ferdinand Friedrich Schoettler (born April 7, 1881, in Bruchhausen-Vilsen, Germany; died September 27, 1948) but the only major components imported from Europe were the engine, instruments, wheels and dope for the fabric covering; everything else was locally produced from local materials by workers without aviation experience or modern machinery.
Schneider 1928 biplane
In 1928 K O Schneider of Long Beach CA., built a two-place cabin biplane, registered N6947 c/n 1.
It was powered by a 100hp Hall-Scott engine and noted in a magazine ad selling new for $450. It was purchased by Garland Lincoln
Schneider, K O
Long Beach CA.
USA
Built a two-place cabin biplane in 1928.
Schneider DFS 108-14 SG-38 Schulgleiter / ESG-9 / Grunau 9 / Tachikawa Ki-24
The Schneider DFS 108-14 SG-38 Schulgleiter (German for “school glider”) is a German high-wing, cable-braced, single-seat primary glider that was developed from the Stamer Lippisch Zögling, and designed by Schneider, Rehberg and Hofmann at Edmund Schneider’s factory at Grunau in 1938, hence the designation. It was produced by several builders, including Deutsche Forschungsanstalt für Segelflug (DFS).
The SG 38 was designed to be a training glider for basic flight training by the Nationalsozialistisches Fliegerkorps (NSFK). The usual launch method was by bungee cord from a sloped hill. Because training was conducted solely by solo flight the aircraft had to be very easy to fly and also easy to repair.
The high-wing design uses a kingpost and cable bracing. The primary structure of the glider is of wood, with the wings, tail surfaces and inverted “V” kingpost all finished in doped aircraft fabric covering. The pilot sits on a simple seat in the open air, without a windshield.
The basic configuration was similar to earlier gliders such as the Stamer Lippisch Zögling and the Grunau IX, but the SG 38 was an entirely new design. Improvements included enlarged tail surfaces for better stability, a separate skid mounted on shock-absorbing springs, and an updated seat for the pilot. Features were parallel rudder movement, provisions for trim weights fore and aft, and screw jack atop A- frame which facilitated assembly and disassembly. Large horizontal stabilizer and small elevator surface, with limited up-travel, made accidental stalls almost impossible.
First flying in 1938, the SG-38 played a critical role in pilot training for the Luftwaffe in the Second World War, as a simple, but robust, trainer for the rapid increase in the number of pilots needed by Germany. It was commonly flown by bungee launch on the slopes of the Wasserkuppe.
Landings could be made, usually without damage, with stick all the way back during final glide. After student had learned to balance glider with ailerons while facing into wind, level ground “Rutsches”–short duration sling-shots with insufficient speed to become airborne–were made. Higher launch velocities followed to permit short flight; then student would advance to hillside launches and, finally, to winch tows and longer flights.
From 1949 to 1951 Spain’s AISA produced 50 licence-built aircraft. The SG-38 was built in Japan as the Tachikawa Ki-24.
In the UK, Elliotts of Newbury built a copy of the SG.38 called the Elliotts Primary EoN; its version first flown in 1948 and used by the RAF as the Eton TX.1.
Overall, about 10,000 were built.
SG 38
Wingspan: 10.41 m (34 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 16 m2 (170 sq ft)
Aspect ratio: 6.76
Length: 6.28 m (20 ft 7 in)
Height: 2.43 m (8 ft 0 in)
Empty weight: 100 kg (220 lb)
Gross weight: 210 kg (463 lb)
Maximum speed: 115 km/h (71 mph, 62 kn)
Never exceed speed: 115 km/h (71 mph, 62 kn)
Maximum glide ratio: 10:1 at 52 km/h
Wing loading: 13.75 kg/m2 (2.82 lb/sq ft)
Crew: One
Schneider Grunau Baby / AB Flygplan Grunau Baby / Hirth Grunau Baby / Nord 1300 / EoN Type 8 Baby / Slingsby T 5 Baby 2 / Laminação Nacional de Metais Alcatraz / Companhia Aeronáutica Paulista Alcatraz
There was a need for a single seat glider which would be suitable both for training and high performance cross-country flying, and to meet this need Wolf Hirth and Edmund Schneider designed and built the Grunau Baby, which made its first flight in 1932; it took its name from the town of Grunau just south of Berlin, now Jeżów Sudecki in Poland, where it was built.
It was designed by Edmund Schneider with the assistance of Wolf Hirth and Hugo Kromer as a smaller version of Schneider’s ESG 31 of the previous year, incorporating an elliptical wing design based on work done by Akaflieg Darmstadt. The first 14 inner ribs were of the Gotinngen 535 shape with the outer ribs gradually changing up to the last 22nd rib having a bi-convex and symmetrical shape with a slight reduction in the angle of incidence. The tips and leading edges of the wings up to the main spar were covered with plywood. The tail unit was built of plywood. The intention was to create an aircraft suitable both for training and for cross-country soaring. It was a high-wing braced monoplane with a fuselage of hexagonal cross-section and an open cockpit. This single-seater was of simple wood and fabric construction with a high strut-braced wing, a plywood fuselage of hexagonal cross-section and an open cockpit ahead of the wing leading edge.
Production began in 1933 and in its initial form the Baby’s span was 42 ft 2.5.
An extensive redesign was undertaken in 1932 following the fatal crash of an unrelated Schneider design, which resulted in the Baby II. This version and the definitive Baby IIb that followed were adopted as standard sailplane trainers for the German Air Sports Association (later the National Socialist Flyers Corps). In 1935 the Baby 2 was produced with the wing span increased to 44 ft 6.25 in. In the Baby 2A and 2B the retangular cross-section fuselage was strengthened with double layers of diagonal plywood; there was now a windscreen to protect the pilot, skid landing gear and airbrakes, although many have been modified by the addition of canopies. About 80 Mk 1s and around 700 Mk 2A and 2B variants were built by Grunau Riesengebirge, and the Baby was built under licence in a number of other European countries, production eventually totalling several thousand. The Baby IIB-2 was an intermediate performance single-seat glider circa 1960.
Among the licensees were Slingsby, who built 15 at their Kirkbymoorside works from 1935 as the T 5 Baby 2, and some others were also built by amateur constructors from BGA-supplied plans. The Slingsby-built ones had no air brakes whereas Elliott’s version, known as the Type 8 Baby Eon, had spoilers in the wing upper surfaces. The Baby Eon was an improved version of the Baby 2B, and had an enclosed cockpit canopy; instead of the German built Baby’s single main landing skid, the Elliott version had a rubber-mounted ash main skid with a single main wheel of fixed centre, plus a tail skid. It was also available with an open cockpit as well as an enclosed ‘bubble’ canopy; an elevator trimmer and a belly hook for higher winch launching were offered as optional extras.
During 1941, 30 Grunau Baby gliders were built by Laminação Nacional de Metais, later Companhia Aeronáutica Paulista in Brazil, under the name “Alcatraz”.
Production of the Baby Eon version of the Baby 2 began in 1948 and 47 were built altogether, plus several more from Elliott factory-supplied kits. An improved variant of the Baby Eon, incorporating a new tailplane and mass-balanced elevators, first flew in 1956 while another improved postwar variant was the Grunau Baby 3, which had several modifications over the earlier Mk 2, including an enclosed cockpit. Upper wing spoilers were fitted, no flaps.
Series production was undertaken under license by Nord in France. The French built Grunau 2B was renamed Nord 1300, some alterations were made, which resulted in inferior performance. By November 1947, 250 Nord 1300 were built.
The Grunau Baby was made in Sweden by AB Flygplan circa 1945. When Edmund Schneider, the Baby’s co-creator and manufacturer, moved to Australia after the war and formed his own company there at the invitation of the Gliding Federation of Australia, he produced the improved version, the Grunau Baby 4.
In Finland in 1949 Mr Pentti Alanne and Mr Vilho Swahn fitted a Grunau Baby with a French Poinsard engine in the nose, and a landing gear similar to a Piper Cub’s.
It is estimated that around 5000 Grunau Babies or derivatives were made worldwide, including Germany, Great Britain, France, Sweden, Poland, Norway, Czechoslovakia, Romania, South Africa, Australia, China, Canada, Argentina, and the U.S..
In addition to training glider pilots, the Grunau Baby was used to train Luftwaffe pilots, who, in accordance with the Treaty of Versailles, could not fly powered aircraft. Many pilots of the Baby II achieved the ‘Silver C’ soaring badge, which required the pilot to be airborne for more than five hours, gain a minimum of 1000 m after takeoff and travelling 50 km.
The Vintage Sailplane Association has plans.
The Grunau Baby V was designed by Herbert Gomolzig, and Wuppertal.
Variation:
Aachen FVA-15
Grunau Baby
Wing span: 13.56 m / 44.5 ft
Wing area: 14.17 sq.m / 152.5 sq.ft
Length: 19.291 ft / 5.88 m
Height: 6.365 ft / 1.940 m
Empty Weight: 159 kg / 350 lb
Payload: 91 kg / 200 lb
Gross Weight: 250 kg / 550 lb
L/DMax: 17 61 kph / 33 kt / 38 mph
MinSink: 0.79 m/s / 25 kt /29 mph
Wing Load: 17.64 kg/sq.m / 3.6 lb/sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 13
Airfoil: Go 535
Seats: 1
Baby IIB
Type: Soaring plane
Wingspan: 44 ft 6.25 in / 13.57 m
Length: 19 ft 11.75 in / 6.09 m
Aspect ratio: 12.8
Wing area: 152.849 sqft / 14.2 ssq.m
Wing section: Gottingen 535
MTOW: 551.3 lb / 250 kg
Weight empty: 352.8 lb / 160 kg
Max. payload: 198.5 lb / 90 kg
Max. speed: 86 kts / 160 km/h / 93 mph
Landing speed: 27 kts / 50 km/h
Stalling speed: 21.5 kt / 40 km/h
Min sinking speed: 2.8 ft/sec / 0.85 m/sec at 34mph / 30 kt / 55 km/h
Best glide ratio: 17:1 at 37.5mph / 32.5 kt / 60 km/h
Wing load: 3.69 lb/sq.ft / 18 kg/sq.m
Glide ratio: 17
Seats: 1
AB Flygplan Grunau Baby II B2
Type: Single seat sailplane
Span: 13.6 m / 45 ft
Length: 5.9 m / 20 ft
Grunau Baby V
Wing span: 14 m
Wing area: 15 sq.m
Aspect ratio: 13.06
Airfoil: Go 535
Empty Weight: 202 kg
Gross Weight: 420 kg
Wing Load: 28 kg/sq.m
L/DMax: 19 kph
MinSink: 0.90 m/s 62 kph
Seats: 2
EoN Type 8 Baby
Wingspan: 13.55 m / 44 ft 5 in
Length: 6.27 m 20 ft 6.75 in
Wing area: 14.21 sq.m / 153 sq.ft
Aspect ratio: 13
Wing section: Gottingen 535 root, Symmetrical tip
Empty weight: 154 kg / 340 lb
AUW: 250 kg / 550 lb
Undercarriage: Main skid, main wheel, tail skid
Seversky P-35 / EP-106
The type began as the company SEV-1XP, one of several machines flown as pursuit prototypes and racers in the 1930s by Major Alexander P. de Seversky, Jacqueline Cochran and others. The P-35 won out over the Curtiss Hawk Model 75 (later P-36) for a 16 June 1936 US Army contract for 77 airframes (36-354 to 430), powered by the 708kW Pratt & Whitney R-1830-9 Twin Wasp 14-cylinder radial engine. The first unit was rejected and modified as the AP-1 and the final airframe in this batch was diverted to become the sole Seversky XP-41.
The Seversky P-35 was the first single-seat all-metal pursuit plane with retractable landing gear and enclosed cockpit to go into service with the US Army Air Corps. It was a major step forward, albeit one which was short-lived as war approached.
The P-35 marks the debut of Seversky (later Republic) of Farmingdale, Long Island, as a major builder of fighters and introduces the work of the firm’s chief designer, Alexander Kartveli. The first P-35 was delivered to Wright Field, Ohio, for tests, and the remaining 75 went initially to the 1st Pursuit Group at Selfridge Field, Michigan. There, the type was received with considerable enthusiasm which lingered even after six machines had been lost in accidents during 1938. Only by later, wartime standards would it become evident that the P-35 was unstable, underarmed, and lacking both armour protection for the pilot and self-sealing fuel tanks.
The company EP-106 export variant attracted Sweden’s attention and 120 machines were ordered with the Flygvapen designation J9. These were powered by the 783kW Pratt & Whitney R-1830-45 Twin Wasp radial. When President Roosevelt announced his 10 October 1940 embargo on fighter shipments to Scandinavia, only half had been delivered. Sixty were seized by the US Army as the P-35A (41-17434 to 17493).
P-35A pursuit ships served with various USAAC units, but by late 1941 about 50 were with First Lieutenant Joseph H. Moore’s 20th Pursuit Squadron, 24th Pursuit Group, at Clark Field in the Philippines. Second Lieutenant Max Louk wrote to his parents in mid-1941 that the squadron was undergoing ‘a very strenuous programme’ of flying ‘up to eight hours a day’ in the P-35A. Incredibly, some P-35As arrived at Clark still painted in Swedish markings and still wore them during the 8 December 1941 Japanese assault, which was synchronised with the attack on Pearl Harbor.
The P-35 was flown by a few memorable pilots, including First Lieutenant ‘Buzz’ Wagner, commander of the 17th Pursuit Squadron, Nichols Field, Philippines, the first American ace of the war. But by December 1941 the type had become dated and inadequate. Pilots of the P-35 started with the disadvantage of an unforgiving mount. 1939 Technical Order No. 01-65 BA-1 had imposed mind-boggling limitations on the P-35, proscribing inverted flight, inverted spins, and outside loops, and similar caveats applied to the slightly more powerful P-35A. Group Captain Christopher Clarkson, the UK’s Royal Air Force test pilot on the US east coast in 1940, logged six hours on P-35 variants and utterly rejected the machine for the RAF. Americans in P-35As in the Philippines simply could not stay with or effectively fight the Mitsubishi and Nakajima fighters that swarmed down on them. Some died ignominiously: First Lieutenant Samuel W. Marrett, commander of the 34th Pursuit Squadron at Del Carmen Field, Philippines, was killed 10 December 1941 when an ammunition barge he was strafing exploded beneath him over Lingayen Gulf, Northern Luzon.
Swedish pilots guarding their nation’s neutrality faced a different problem. Hans Westerberg, flew the J9 (P-35A) and, in 1944, intercepted a crippled American B-24 Liberator struggling away from a target in Germany. “I could just keep speed with the bomber. I closed in to use hand signals to tell him that his crew could land and be interned in Sweden. All of his guns turned towards me and he was an instant away from opening fire before he understood. The problem was that from some angles my P-35A looked exactly like a Focke-Wulf Fw 190.”
P-35 / EP-106
Engine: 1050hp P&W R-1830
Wingspan: 36’0″
Length: 26’10”
Useful load: 2148 lb
Max speed: 290 mph
Cruise: 260 mph
Range: 950 mi
Seats: 1
P-35A
Wingspan: 10.97 m / 36 ft 0 in
Length: 8.18 m / 27 ft 10 in
Height: 2.97 m / 10 ft 9 in
Wing area: 20.44 sq.m / 220.01 sq ft
Max take-off weight: 3050 kg / 6724 lb
Empty weight: 2075 kg / 4575 lb
Max. speed: 499 km/h / 310 mph
Ceiling: 9570 m / 31400 ft
Range: 1529 km / 950 miles
Armament: 2 x 12.7mm + 2 x 7.62mm machine guns
Bomb load: 160kg
EP-106
Engine: P&W R-1830-45, 1050hp
Seversky 2PA / AT-12 Guardsman
Evolved in parallel with the P-35, the 2PA was a two-seat fighter and fighter-bomber with a fundamentally similar airframe and offered with either a similar undercarriage to that of the single-seater as the 2PA-L (Land) or with an amphibious float undercarriage as the 2PA-A (Amphibian). Dubbed “Convoy Fighter” by the manufacturer, the 2PA was powered by a Wright R-1820-G2 or G3 Cyclone nine-cylinder radial engine, the former rated at 1,000hp for take-off and the latter at 875hp.
One 2PA in 1937 first flew on 8 July 1937 piloted by Frank Sinclair. Powered with an 875hp Wright R-1820-G3 Cyclone engine, it was registered NX/NR189M c/n 6 (1938 registration conflict with SEV-X-BT; possibly a transfer). Demonstrated in South America, it was reportedly abandoned in Brazil after engine failure.
Armament comprised two wing-mounted 7.62mm or 12.7mm Browning guns, one 7.62mm Browning on a flexible mount in the rear cockpit, plus two forward-firing fuselage-mounted 7.62mm or 12.7mm Browning guns. Provision was made for a bomb load of up to 227kg on internal wing racks.
Two 2PA-BX, NX2586 c/n 146 and NX2587, were used as European demonstrators, which brought a substantial order from Sweden. First flown on 23 October 1938 piloted by Frank Sinclair, early in 1939, Major Seversky embarked upon a European sales tour in a 2PA-202 or 2PA-BX which was fitted with a 1,100hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C Twin Wasp. This aircraft was tested at the A&AEE Martlesham Heath, in March 1939, at the instigation of the Air Ministry.
Fifty-two 2PA-BXs were ordered by Sweden as dive-bombers (the Seversky company having meanwhile become the Republic Aviation Corporation), but only two of these were delivered to Sweden, the remainder being taken over by the USAAC as AT-12 Guardsman advanced trainers.
The one amphibian 2PA-A, NX1307, and one 2PA-L were procured by the Soviet Union in March 1938, together with a manufacturing licence, which, in the event, was not to be utilised. The 1937 2PA-L was built from SEV-X-BT components as a potential military export and first flown on 2 November 1937, by C H Miller. Refitted with 850hp R-1820-G2 engine, it was unregistered and ended up in the Spanish Civil War.
Twenty R-1820-G2-powered examples were ordered clandestinely by the Japanese Imperial Navy for use over China as long-range escort fighters. Designated 2PA-B3, these received an armament of two fuselage-mounted 7.62mm machine guns and a similar weapon in the rear cockpit. Assigned the Japanese designation A8V1, the 2PAs were found to possess unacceptable levels of manoeuvrability and climb rate for the escort fighter role and were therefore relegated to reconnaissance missions in Central China, two later being passed to the Asahi Shimbun newspaper group. The c/ns were 122 to 141. Found US regs were NX1321=J-BAAN c/n 126, NX1391 c/n 64-1, NX1388 c/n 64-2 and c/n 64-3, which flew to the West Coast for overseas shipment and left no tracks. The “64-” c/ns seen in some reports likely were Japanese registations.
It was incorrectly thought the type was later produced in Japan as a Kawasaki or Mitsubishi Type 98 and given the allied code ‘Disk’ on that basis.
2PA
Engine: 875hp Wright R-1820-G3 Cyclone
Seats: 2
SEV-2PA
Engine: 1,100hp Pratt & Whitney R-1830-S3C Twin Wasp
Max take-off weight: 3474 kg / 7659 lb
Empty weight: 2078 kg / 4581 lb
Wingspan: 10.97 m / 36 ft 0 in
Length: 8.20 m / 27 ft 11 in
Height: 2.99 m / 10 ft 10 in
Wing area: 20.44 sq.m / 220.01 sq ft
Max. speed: 508 km/h / 316 mph
Range: 3138 km / 1950 miles
Seats: 2
2PA-A
Engine: 1000hp Wright R-1820-G5 Cyclone
Seats: 2
2PA-B / 2PA-BX / 2PA-202 / SEV-1-68
Engine: 1200hp P&W P-1830-S1C Wasp
Seats: 2
2PA-L
Engine: 1000hp Wright R-1820-G7
Wingspan: 41’0″
Length: 30’5″
Speed: 250 mph
Seats: 2
All Aero 