SET 7

SET 7
SET-7K
General information
Type	Trainer and reconnaissance aircraft
Manufacturer	SET
Designer	Grigore Zamfirescu [1] Dumitru Bazilu [1] Ștefan Protopopescu [1]
Number built	123
History
First flight	1931

The SET 7 was a military trainer & reconnaissance aircraft that was produced in Romania in the mid-1930s. It was originally designed as a conventional single-bay biplane, with slightly staggered wings, a standard undercarriage with fixed tailskid, and a tandem open-cockpit arrangement for the pilot and instructor or observer. Power was supplied by an Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar radial engine, and, from the outset, the aircraft was equipped for wireless & photographic reconnaissance duties.

An armed version followed in 1934, adding a trainable machine gun for the observer and a fixed machine gun for the pilot. This version, the 7K, was powered by a neatly cowled Gnome-Rhône 7Ksd engine, and the 7KB (fitted with bomb racks) & 7KD were specialised subtypes that followed it. A floatplane version was produced as the 7H.

Variants

• SET 7 - initial unarmed trainer version with Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar engine (50 built, 1932–1934) ^[2]
• SET 7K - armed reconnaissance version with Gnome-Rhône 7Ksd/7Ksf engine (20 built, delivered by August 1936) ^[2]
  • SET 7KB - 7K fitted with IAR-built Barbieri-type bomb racks (20 built, delivered by September 1937) ^[2]
  • SET 7KD - 7K stripped of most equipment and used for liaison duties (Divizionar - "army division use") (20 built, delivered between October and December 1938) ^[2]
• SET 7H - floatplane for Romanian Navy

Operators

Romania

• Royal Romanian Air Force
• Royal Romanian Navy
• Transnistrian air section

Specifications (7K)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1937, ^[3] Romanian Aeronautical Constructions 1905–1974 ^[4]

General characteristics

• Crew: 2
• Length: 7.15 m (23 ft 5 in)
• Upper wingspan: 9.8 m (32 ft 2 in)
• Lower wingspan: 9.5 m (31 ft 2 in)
• Height: 3.15 m (10 ft 4 in)
• Wing area: 26.6 m² (286 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 930 kg (2,050 lb)
• Gross weight: 1,560 kg (3,439 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × IAR-built Gnome-Rhône 7Ksf 7-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 300 kW (400 hp) at 1,500 m (4,900 ft)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 251 km/h (156 mph, 136 kn) at sea level
  

255 km/h (158 mph; 138 kn) at 1,500 m (4,900 ft)

253 km/h (157 mph; 137 kn) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)

• Stall speed: 92 km/h (57 mph, 50 kn)
• Service ceiling: 6,800 m (22,300 ft) service ceiling; 7,500 m (24,600 ft) absolute ceiling
• Time to altitude: 1,000 m (3,300 ft) in 2 minutes 40 seconds
  

2,000 m (6,600 ft) in 5 minutes 40 seconds

3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 9 minutes 5 seconds

4,000 m (13,000 ft) in 13 minutes 41 seconds

5,000 m (16,000 ft) in 19 minutes 41 seconds

Armament

• Guns: 1x fixed forward-firing synchronised 7.70 mm (0.303 in) Lewis gun with twin 7.70 mm (0.303 in) Lewis guns on a Grossu IAR ring mount in the rear cockpit
• Bombs: 300 kg (660 lb) of bombs and/or Holt flares carried under-wing

References

1. Antoniu, Dan; Cicos, George (2007). Romanian Aeronautical Constructions (2nd ed.). Bucharest: Vivaldi. p. 239. ISBN   978-973-150-002-7.
2. Craciunoiu, Cristian; Axworthy, Mark; Scafeş, Cornel (1995). Third axis, fourth ally : Romanian armed forces in the European war, 1941-1945. London: Arms and Armour Press. p. 243. ISBN   1854092677.
3. Grey, C.G.; Bridgman, Leonard, eds. (1937). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1937. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. p. 255c.
4. Gugju, Ion; Gheorghe Iacobescu; Ovidiu Ionescu. Romanian Aeronautical Constructions 1905–1974. Brasov. pp. 158–159.

Further reading

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 352.

External links

• Уголок неба
• Aviatia magazine website Archived 2016-03-03 at the Wayback Machine