Bleriot-SPAD S.51

S.51

Manufacturer: Blériot
Designed by: André Herbémont
First flight: 16 June 1924
Primary users: Polish Air Force Turkish Air Force Soviet Air Force
Number built: ca. 60

The Bleriot-SPAD S.51 was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1924 in response to a French Air Force requirement for an aircraft to replace their obsolete Nieuport-Delage NiD.29s.

Design and development

Designed by André Herbémont, the S.51 shared its basic configuration with his other aircraft of the period, being a biplane with a swept upper wing and unswept lower wing, joined by I-shaped interplane struts. The S.51, however, marked Herbémont's transition from a covered framework fuselage design to a monocoque fuselage.

The prototype S.51 was rejected by the French authorities, but revised versions found export customers in the Polish Air Force, which bought 50 of them, and the Turkish and Soviet air forces which each bought a single example. Another development, the S.51/3 was experimentally fitted with the first controllable pitch propeller developed in France, also designed by Herbémont.

Variants

S.51/1 Prototype for French evaluation. S.51/2 Refined version exported to Poland. S.51/3 Prototype with variable-pitch propeller. S.51/4 Export version for Turkey and the USSR with two extra machine guns in the wings.

Operators

Poland

Polish Air Force
11th (Kosciusko) Squadron

Soviet Union

Soviet Air Force

Spain

Spanish Republican Air Force

Turkey

Turkish Air Force

Specifications (S.51/2)

General characteristics

Crew: one pilot
Length: 6.45 m (21 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 9.47 m (31 ft 1 in)
Height: 3.10 m (10 ft 2 in)
Wing area: 24.0 m² (258 ft²)
Empty weight: 990 kg (2,182 lb)
Gross weight: 1,360 kg (2,998 lb)
Powerplant: 1 x— Gnome et Rhx´ne-built Bristol Jupiter IV radial engine, 313 kW (420 hp)

Performance

Maximum speed: 230 km/h (143 mph)
Service ceiling: 9,000 m (29,530 ft)
Rate of climb: 7.2 m/s (1,425 ft/min)

Armament

2 x— fixed, forward-firing .303 Vickers machine guns

Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. pp. 164.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp. File 890 Sheet 42.
aviafrance.com

Bleriot-SPAD S.51 Pictures

Living Warbirds: The best warbirds DVD series.

Source: WikiPedia