French WW1 fighter aircraft
The SPAD S.XV was a single-seat fighter designed and built in France and offered to fulfil a 1918 C1 specification (C1 - "Chasseur" single-seat).
Design and development.
The 1918 C1 specification called for a medium altitude fighter with payload and a service ceiling, maximum speed of and absolute ceiling of . The specification called for the use of several different engine types, one of which was the Gnome Monosoupape 9Nc rotary engine. Five aircraft were allocated the Gnome in response to the specification: Morane-Saulnier MoS 27, Morane-Saulnier MoS 29, Courtois-Suffit Lescop CSL-1, Nieuport 28 and SPAD S.XV.
André Herbemont, at SPAD, designed a single-bay biplane with un-staggered, equal span wooden wings and a moulded plywood monocoque fuselage. The closely cowled Gnome engine was mounted in the nose, driving a 2-bladed propeller. Two Vickers machine-guns were mounted in the forward upper decking, firing through the propeller disc, using synchronising gear.
First flown on 31 July 1917, the relatively low power of the Gnome engine limited any performance advantage over the SPAD S.XIII, so production was not authorised. The moulded plywood monocoque fuselage concept, however, was used extensively by Herbemont in subsequent designs due to its light weight and high strength.
Operational history.
None of the S.XVs were accepted by the Aviation militaire.
Specifications (S.15/2).
"Data from" General characteristics* Crew: 1* Aspect ratio: * Propellers: 2-bladed wooden fixed-pitch propeller
Performance* Endurance: 2.5 hours* g limits: * Roll rate: * Time to altitude: in 5.67 minutes
Armament
References.
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