AP 118 · No. 10 Section II · Aircraft Plate 23 / 146

Plate 23 of 146 · Great War · Single-seat fighter

SPAD XIII

SPAD S.XIII, painted as ‘S4513’, the SPAD XIII replica that hangs in the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford: the French single-seat fighter of 1917 that equipped the French, American and Italian fighter squadrons in the last year of the war, a single-bay biplane with intermediate bracing points on its interplane wires, a geared Hispano-Suiza V8 behind a round radiator and twin Vickers guns on the decking; built in 1978 as an airworthy replica (G-BFYO) and finished as Eddie Rickenbacker’s ‘1’ of the 94th Aero Squadron: French five-colour camouflage on the upper surfaces, cream linen underneath, a red cowling ring and red propeller, the squadron’s hat-in-the-ring and a white ‘1’ on the fuselage sides, a red, white and blue rudder lettered ‘S’ and ‘4513’, US roundels on top of the upper wing and under the lower wing, a white ‘1’ under the port lower wing and blue wheel covers with a white star.

3D model

Turn it over

A procedural model built in Blender from published dimensions, drawings and photographs, painted as ‘S4513’, the SPAD XIII replica that hangs in the American Air Museum at IWM Duxford: the French single-seat fighter of 1917 that equipped the French, American and Italian fighter squadrons in the last year of the war, a single-bay biplane with intermediate bracing points on its interplane wires, a geared Hispano-Suiza V8 behind a round radiator and twin Vickers guns on the decking; built in 1978 as an airworthy replica (G-BFYO) and finished as Eddie Rickenbacker’s ‘1’ of the 94th Aero Squadron: French five-colour camouflage on the upper surfaces, cream linen underneath, a red cowling ring and red propeller, the squadron’s hat-in-the-ring and a white ‘1’ on the fuselage sides, a red, white and blue rudder lettered ‘S’ and ‘4513’, US roundels on top of the upper wing and under the lower wing, a white ‘1’ under the port lower wing and blue wheel covers with a white star. Drag to orbit, scroll or pinch to zoom · download .glb (904 KB)

Data plate

Specification

First flight, number built and top speed are for the whole family (); engine, crew and dimensions are for the SPAD S.XIII modelled here.

History

The SPAD XIII

The SPAD XIII was Louis Béchereau’s enlarged development of the SPAD VII, designed at the Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés in Paris round the geared Hispano-Suiza 8B, which gave about 220 hp against the VII’s 150 to 180. It kept the VII’s compact layout: a box-girder fuselage with a round radiator in the nose, single-bay wings whose long bracing wires were steadied at mid-bay by light auxiliary struts, so that it looked like a two-bay biplane, and two Vickers guns on the decking in place of the VII’s one. The first flew on 4 April 1917 and it reached French squadrons in the early summer.

It was fast, very strong and an excellent gun platform, and it could dive harder than almost anything that might chase it, though it needed to be flown with care at low speed and its geared engine was troublesome until the reduction gear was improved. By the Armistice most French fighter escadrilles flew it, and Georges Guynemer and René Fonck were among its pilots; Guynemer was lost in one in September 1917.

SPAD and several other French firms built 8,472. The American Expeditionary Forces bought 893 and the US Air Service’s pursuit squadrons flew them through the autumn of 1918, as did Italian and Belgian units, and a few reached the Royal Flying Corps. After the war SPAD XIIIs stayed in French service into the early 1920s, served with many smaller air forces and were sold off cheaply for racing and joyriding.

This airframe

SPAD XIII “S4513”

S4513The airframe modelled

Duxford’s SPAD XIII is a replica, not an original. It was built in 1978 as an airworthy aircraft for Leisure Sport and registered G-BFYO, flew in the Thorpe Park flying displays, then went on show at the Fleet Air Arm Museum before coming to Duxford in 1997. It now hangs in the American Air Museum, painted to represent Eddie Rickenbacker’s ‘1’ of the 94th Aero Squadron, though with the serial S4513 on its rudder rather than Rickenbacker’s S4523. The model shows it as displayed: French five-colour camouflage above and cream linen below, a red cowling ring and propeller, the hat-in-the-ring badge and a white ‘1’ on each side, a red, white and blue rudder, US roundels on top of the upper wing and under the lower wing, and blue wheel covers with white stars. Its camouflage differs from side to side, as on the real aircraft. No photograph shows the top of the tailplane, so its colours are assumed.

See it at IWM Duxford

Where to see one

In the gazetteer

The gazetteer records the SPAD XIII in one UK collection. The airframe modelled here is marked.

Every airframe and serial All 146 plates

Profiles and models are procedural interpretations built in Blender from published dimensions, three-view drawings and photographs of each airframe. Treat the museum aircraft as the reference.