SV.5 Tornado | |
---|---|
A Latvian Air Force SV.5 | |
Role | Military trainer |
National origin | Belgium |
Manufacturer | Stampe et Vertongen |
Designer | George Ivanow [1] |
First flight | September 1933 [2] |
Primary user | Belgian Air Force [3] |
Number built | 31, plus one SV.9 [3] |
The Stampe et Vertongen SV.5 Tornado was a military trainer aircraft designed and built in Belgium in the 1930s. [4] [5] It saw service with the Belgian Air Force [6] and Latvian Air Force, [7] and Latvian firm VEF purchased a production license, although it is uncertain whether it built any examples. [6]
The SV.5 was Stampe et Vertongen's response to a 1933 requirement by the Belgian Air Force for a two-seat training biplane with aerobatic capabilities. [1] Jean Stampe directed designer George Ivanow to update the company's RSV.22 to meet the new specifications, but the resulting design was an entirely new aircraft with only a superficial resemblance to its predecessor. [1] It was a conventional, single-bay biplane with staggered wings of unequal span. [8] The pilot and instructor sat in open cockpits in tandem [8] and the aircraft was powered by an Armstrong Siddeley Serval radial engine [9] in the nose, enclosed in a Townend ring. [7] The main units of the fixed undercarriage were divided and the tail was supported by a tailwheel. [8] It could be equipped for bombing or gunnery training. [5] Unlike earlier Stampe et Vertongen products, which had wooden structures, the SV.5 airframe was riveted together from steel tube in a method inspired by Hawker in the United Kingdom. [1]
The prototype first flew in September 1933, [2] and on 16 October 1934, the Belgian Air Force evaluated it against five competitors: the Avro 626, Breda Ba.25, Fairey Fox III, LACAB T-7, and the Renard R.34. [7] A sixth competitor, the Caproni Ca.113, suffered an accident on arrival and was disqualified. [7] The SV.5 outclassed all its rivals in the maintainability trials, and was less expensive than any of them. [7] However, the Avro 626 was selected for political reasons. [7]
The SV.5 nevertheless found a customer in the Latvian Air Force, which was seeking a similar aircraft. [7] When a study mission to Belgium confirmed the type's suitability, the Latvian government negotiated the purchase of ten examples in exchange for 5,700 tonnes of wheat. [7] These machines were slightly different from the prototype, with a NACA cowl in place of the Townend ring, a redesigned horizontal stabiliser, and simplified main undercarriage. [7] Germany would not permit the overflight of the aircraft, so in September 1936 they were shipped disassembled to Riga, where Jean Stampe oversaw their assembly by VEF. [6]
In the meantime, the Belgian Air Force finally placed an order for twenty SV.5s. [6] Stampe et Vertongen delivered these between October 1936 and mid 1937. [6]
Ivanow used the SV.5 as the basis for a family of follow-on designs with only minor variations: [6]
Of these, only a single SV.9 was built. This aircraft was exported to Latvia, together with a license for production by VEF. Although rumours exist that VEF built examples of the type, this cannot be confirmed. [6]
Data fromJouhaud 1999, p.86
General characteristics
Performance
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