![]() | This article includes a list of general references, but it lacks sufficient corresponding inline citations .(March 2020) |
Dorand AR.1 and AR.2 | |
---|---|
![]() Dorand AR.1 | |
General information | |
Type | Reconnaissance aircraft |
Manufacturer | Section Technique de l'Aéronautique |
Designer | Georges Lèpere and Émile Dorand |
Primary users | French Air Force |
History | |
Introduction date | 1917 |
First flight | 1916 |
The Dorand AR.1 was a World War I French two-seat observation biplane aircraft used by the French Air Force, the American Expeditionary Force and, in small numbers, by Serbian Aviation.
Designed by Captain Georges Lepère of the STAé to replace the obsolescent Farman F.40 pusher aircraft, Dorand AR-series were two-seater reconnaissance biplanes that were named after the STAé director, Lt. Col. Dorand. They were characterized by backward-staggered two-bay wings and angular all-moving tail surfaces. The pilot sat beneath the leading edge of the upper wing, with the observer's cockpit being under the trailing edge, and there were cut-outs in both wings to improve the latter's field of view. Rather unusually for a single-engine tractor biplane of the era, the lower wing was not directly attached to the fuselage, instead being somewhat below it, supported by struts.
Production of these aircraft began in a state-owned French Army Aircraft Establishment (or S.T.Aé.) factory at Chalais-Meudon, near Paris, after flight testing had been completed in the autumn 1916.
The first of the thirteen squadrons which flew Dorands on the Western Front received their aircraft in the spring 1917. Five other French squadrons used the type on the Italian Front. These aircraft were withdrawn from the combat units in early 1918.
In 1917 the American Expeditionary Force ordered the Renault-engined varieties of the Dorand, the first of 22 AR.1s being delivered in December 1917 and the first of 120 AR.2s in following February. The Americans operated these types on the Western Front for the first half 1918, until replacing them with the Salmson 2. After being retired from fighting duties, the surviving examples were used as trainers.
A small number of Dorand AR.1s were also supplied to Kingdom of Serbia, which operated these aircraft in four squadrons from April 1918 onwards. While the Dorand AR-types didn't have a particularly distinguished career in either French or American service, having a rather mediocre performance for a late-war daytime reconnaissance aircraft and suffering from having low priority for engine supplies, it is a testimony to the general soundness of the design that after the war, many AR.1s and AR.2s appeared in the French civil register, being used as 2/3-passenger transports by companies like Compagnie Aérienne Française and Réseau Aérien Transafricain. Private users found the aircraft useful for training and joy-flights as well.
There were following variants of the design:
The AR.1 and ARL.1 had a wing span of 13.27 m (43.5 ft), and used frontal radiators, while the AR.2 and ARL.2 were slightly smaller aircraft, with a wingspan of 12.0 m (39.4 ft), the wing area being only 45 square metres, and wing mounted radiators. All these types had "A.2" added to their names in French service, indicating that they were two-seater reconnaissance aircraft.
Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1919 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration, and era
The Breguet XIV or Breguet 14 is a French biplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft of World War I. It was built in very large numbers and production continued for many years after the end of the war.
The Breguet 19 was a sesquiplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft which was also used for long-distance flights and was designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.
The Salmson 2 A.2, was a French biplane reconnaissance aircraft developed and produced by Salmson to a 1916 requirement. Along with the Breguet 14, it was the main reconnaissance aircraft of the French army in 1918 and was also used by American Expeditionary Force aviation units. At the end of the First World War, one-third of French reconnaissance aircraft were Salmson 2s.
The Aviatik B.I is a German two-seat reconnaissance biplane designed and built by the Automobil und Aviatik AG company, who until then had produced copies of French designs.
The Nieuport 12 was a French sesquiplane reconnaissance, fighter aircraft and trainer used by France, Russia, Great Britain and the United States during World War I. Later production examples were built as trainers and served widely until the late 1920s.
The Caudron R.4 was a French World War I twin-engine biplane reconnaissance/artillery cooperation aircraft and the progenitor of a series of successful aircraft that filled a variety of roles with the French Aéronautique Militaire.
The Blanchard Brd.1 was a French reconnaissance flying boat, to the 1923 STAé HB.3 specification, used by the French navy in the 1920s. It was a large biplane with two engines mounted in the gap between the wings, each engine driving a pusher propeller. In 1924, one Brd.1 was used to set several world altitude records for seaplanes.
The Potez XV was a French single-engine, two-seat observation biplane designed as a private venture by Louis Coroller and built by Potez and under licence by Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów and Plage i Laśkiewicz in Poland.
The Farman F.40 was a French pusher biplane reconnaissance aircraft.
The Lohner L was a reconnaissance flying boat produced in Austria-Hungary during World War I. It was a two-bay biplane of typical configuration for the flying boats of the day, with its pusher engine mounted on struts in the interplane gap. The pilot and observer sat side by side in an open cockpit, and both the upper and lower sets of wings featured sweepback.
The Ikarus IO was a biplane flying boat produced in Yugoslavia in the late 1920s. It was a conventional flying boat design for its day, featuring a large single-bay wing cellule, the staggered wings of slightly uneven span braced with N-struts. The pilot and observer sat side by side in an open cockpit, and a gunner sat in an open position ahead of them, in the bow. The pusher engine and frontal radiator were carried on struts in the inter-plane gap.
The SPAD S.XI or SPAD 11 is a French two-seat biplane reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War. The SPAD 11 was the work of Louis Béchereau, chief designer of the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD), who also designed the highly successful SPAD 7 and SPAD 13 single-seat fighter aircraft. It was developed under military specification C2, which called for a two-seat fighter aircraft. As a result of its failure to meet the levels of performance and agility demanded by the C2 specification, the SPAD 11 was used, along with the more successful Salmson 2 and Breguet 14, to replace ageing Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Dorand AR reconnaissance aircraft. Persistent problems with the SPAD 11 led to its early replacement by the SPAD S.XVI or SPAD 16 variant.
The Lioré et Olivier LéO H-13 was a French biplane two-engine flying boat of the 1920s, built in passenger and military variants.
The Letord Let.5 was probably the most numerous of a family of 3-seat reconnaissance bombers, designed and built in France from 1916, originally to an A3 specification from the STAé.
The Mitsubishi Army Type 92 Reconnaissance Aircraft (九二式偵察機) was a Japanese short-range reconnaissance aircraft of the 1930s designed by Mitsubishi for the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force. A total of 230 were built, serving between 1933 and 1936. A parasol monoplane, the Type 92 was the first military aircraft powered by an engine both designed and manufactured in Japan to enter service.
The Farman F.30A C2 was a two-seat biplane designed as a fighter in France in 1916 and powered by a single, water-cooled radial engine. It showed poor flight characteristics and only one was built, though it was modified twice. It should not be confused with the similarly named Henry Farman HF.30 of 1915, a completely different aircraft which was used in large numbers by the Imperial Russian Air Service.
The Morane-Saulnier S, also known as MoS-10, was a large twin-engined biplane bomber designed and built in France around 1916. Powered by two 250 hp (190 kW) Renault 12E V-12 water-cooled piston engines, with Hazet type side radiators, the 'S' was given the STAé designation MoS-10 and serial MS-625.
The Dorand DO.1 was an armoured reconnaissance-bomber designed and built in France from 1913. A small number were used operationally as a stop-gap measure.
The Bréguet XI was a prototype French biplane bomber of the First World War.
The Dewoitine D.720 T3 was a French reconnaissance/cooperation aircraft built by Dewoitine in the late 1930s.
For the photographs of the Dorands see following pages: