Had a model of this airplane when I was a little boy. One thing problem with the pilots breathing in burning oil fumes from the engines, diarrhea. It's one of the two reasons a lot of them drank so much, the other being combat stress.
The 37mm/1pdr was very popular for legal reasons. A a shell weight of at least 400 grams (0.88 lb) was the lightest exploding shell allowed under the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 and reaffirmed in the Hague Convention of 1899, and that was used to develop the 1pdr pom-pom among other infantry weapons like the French trench gun shown here, which also armed French light tanks until WWII starting with the Renault FT. It was also used in anti shipping/submarine warfare by the big French boatplanes
@@kiloalphasierra That's not a distinction that is made in any of the treaties. The St Petersburg Declaration was specifically over concern of a new design of exploding projectile shot from a rifle. The 40mm grenades is also shot from tripod or pintle mounted weapons that are absolutely not shoulder fired rifles.
I'm test flying one of the 3 known (to me) airworthy replicas right now and I can confirm it's a marvelous aircraft. Climbs like a bat out of hell and so far has no nasty characteristics. Absolutely beautiful flyer!
@@Subhumanoid_ Tell me if it works, for whatever reason TH-cam has been erasing my replies to people alot lately, gettin' a little sick of it to, people can say whatever they want to me or about my country and i give them a reply, no cuss words or threats or anything like that, and my replies won't post.
As a kid in the 1960's, I corresponded with Eddie Rickenbacker. My inspiration for starting the correspondence was actually the portrayal of Snoopy as a WWI flying ace. After that, I bought all the books I could on WWI and the fight in the air. In the Early 1970's, I think, but am not positive that I met O.C. LeBoutillier (Richthofen's last fight) at a motel cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada. My family was on vacation and I was drawing the picture of a biplane on my place mat. An elderly gentleman and his wife were in the booth next to us and when he got up, he noticed my artwork. He told me he used to fly similar aircraft a long time ago. LeBoutillier ended his days in Las Vegas and at that time, it wasn't the mess it is today. He smiled at us and they left the cafe.
The exposed valve gear of most WWI engines is no accident. The valve spring alloys of the time were notorious for relaxing (stress relieving) at relatively modest temperatures. Most engine designers felt the valve springs needed to be exposed to a flow of cooling air. That Marc Birkigt was able to get away with enclosed valve gear suggests he may have known more than others about the use of better valve spring alloys. The generally lower operating temperature of a liquid cooled engine compared to an air cooled rotary may also have helped. .
He probably had oil pumping up into the enclosed areas that ran down over the springs cooling them because his engine had a circulating oil system instead of a constant loss system, that's exactly why OHV motorcycle engine's of that era had exposed top end valve gear and then suddenly within a few years everyone had switched to enclosed. Early motorcycle engines were also constant loss, lubricating oils back then were really crappy and couldn't survive being circulated around and around continuously in an engine, their properties broke down too quickly and would have trashed a motor in no time that was circulating it constantly, it would get too thin and all the other bad things the molecules in oil do without additives in it, since they were constant loss systems they couldn't spare any oil to flow over valve springs and stems to cool them so they just left them exposed to be air cooled, once oils were good enough that they could survive being recurculated they started designing engines with fully enclosed valve trains that have oil pumped up to them that runs down over the collars, springs and valve stems cooling them.
Thanks. I was 11 when I made my first large model of a SPAD XIII, US paint. My Grandfather fought the last 9 weeks of WWI on the front: infantry. Took out most of his hearing and smell. By 1946, he had a throat cancer from being gased. He died in the big VA hospital outside Chicago. Thanks for the memories.
Speaking of history... There is a Japanese carrier Kaga finally in San Diego. And it's going to be flying US Marine f-35s. Talk about a Twilight Zone episode...... 😏📺
US Marine aviators are searching for Japanese carrier Kaga. The more things change the more they stay the same. Bet they'll have an easier time finding and approaching her this time around.
You can start with this vid, a very interesting presentation of the evolution of WW1 planes which also talks about some of the aces. th-cam.com/video/CU7hc8bV-jQ/w-d-xo.html
As a teen back in the sixties I was a member of the Society of World War I Aero Historians. Most of this international group were actual WWI veterans, many pilots. They published a quarterly scholarly Geographic-sized B/W periodical with many photographs and maps. As a young modeler, I was in Heaven. I loaned three years or so of these to a high school chum and he kept immaculate care of them until he recently sent them all back to me. I thank Ed Sterling, a fellow enthusiast and a veteran himself. Orémus Y'all.
As a kid I read a book called "No Parachute." It was a collection of letters to his wife, written by an American volunteer pilot flying for the British. It was a great read, I wish I could find a copy.
@unklekal7571 that was not from an American. It's Arthur Gould. The Audio book is amazing as well. He has another called open cockpit, which covers more of his camel flying (no parachute was more of his time in pups). I can't say enough good about No Parachute. An amazing book if you want to know about the life, and death of a ww1 aviator.
If Americans wanted to fly in vombat before the US joined the war, what were they to do? Some ended up in France and joined the Lafayette Escadrilles, but between the common language and the ease of travelling to the British Empire many joined what would become the RAF. The big difference is likely that there were not American squadrons, but the Americans were disbursed the same as any other airman so telling a specifically American story is a lot harder. Separately the US sent a group of pilots to England when they joined the war in order to learn from the British. When Billy Bishop (creditted as the Empire's leading ace) got to pick pilots for his squadron he selected several of those Americans who went on to become aces.
Back in early 1960s I built WW1 wood and paper models. My favorite and last was the SPAD. Dad, as engineering professor guided me and told me a lot about WW1 fighters.
Great program and great subject. I appreciate how you were able to tie this one in with Rod Serling, Ferrari and, perhaps the most influential movie of my youth, The Great Waldo Pepper!
The Spad XIII might be the best french fighter of WWI but the Nieuport 28 certainly was the best sounding one. Imagine your typical 1980's lawnmower growing into some kind of mutant hulk monster. That's about the sound of the 160 hp Monosoupape
When America entered WWI, the French had largely standardized on the Spad, allowing them to supply American units with Nieuports, initially used 17’s and then new 28’s. Most American units were happy to eventually exchange the fragile Nieuport 28’s for Spad 13’s, but according to Herschel Smith in “Aircraft Piston Engines”, the U.S. First Pursuit Group actually preferred the Nieuport 28, regarding the Spad 13 to be a truck by comparison. The unit’s mechanics included a number of ex-race car mechanics, who were able to apply hop up tricks to the big Monosoupape Gnome rotary engines to improve their performance and reliability.
The Gnome 160 was a dated design, was just really loud and not very efficient. There were a number of better designed rotary-radials; the Clerget 130 through 170 hp and the Bentley clones of the Clerget. And they sound like proper aircraft engines, the Gnome is just a noxiously loud wall of white noise, with not a lot of power for all of the racket. There should be some credit going to the clockwork ignition couping system for throttling the Gnome, but it's carburetor was abysmally primitive when all other WWI rotary aircraft engines were improving their designs to "tick-over" at partial throttle settings. Also the series of two stroke like transfer channels in the lower cylinder were a big hindrance of that engine making any more power, it capped the engine's volumetric efficiency and curbed it's ability to efficiently fly above 13K. A good engine for rough fields and spotty maintenance, but you never had the German Imperial Air forces offer a crate of Champagne to one of their pilots who downed a Gnome equipped Entente fighter intact. And that's because they had already moved on from the Oberusal UO series of engines.
The success of the SPAD is all the more amazing when one looks at the original, which put the observer/gunner in front of the prop in a little pod supported by ungainly struts. It looks so much like one of those planes that's just going to be a forgotten oddity. Along came interrupter gear and a simple redesign produced the VII. The inner wing struts are not for bracing, but just to steady the wires and thus reduce drag. I think one reason the SPAD (and SE5a) were so good was the strength of the airframe: confidence must have been so important without parachutes and aircraft that would readily fold up. Guynemer was a huge hero in France, more likeable than some of his contemporaries. I urge viewers to look at photos of him from lare 1916, and late 1917 before his death. Soldiers in this war aged so fast, looking fatigued and drawn. But not von Richtofen! Thanks!
Regarding reversal of the propeller rotation catching some pilots out, I've read of something similar with the change from the Merlin to the Griffon engine (which rotated the other way) in later marks of Spitfire.
A great lesson on the difference in thermal conductivity between steel and aluminum can be learned by taking a sip of scalding hot C-Rat coffee from an aluminum canteen cup when you're accustomed to drinking from a steel canteen cup. The difference will be burned into your memory, just as the skin of your lip was burned onto the rim of the aluminum canteen cup.
I hope the merch stays available a long time, you’re really twisting my arm here with WWI stuff AND it’s available for south paws! Next level, thanks Greg!
For me it's a tossup between this and the SE5a, and this video makes it clear why. Back in the '80s I played a lot of a WWI air combat wargame, the name of which escapes me. Anyway, my go-to was a SPAD XIII flown by Lt. George LeSaveur. I amassed a very respectable record. Speed is what really matters.
You mentioned about the lower horsepower in the SPAD 13 and if you read the book Falcons of France by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall they mention that quite a few pilots liked the 180 and 200 horsepower engines as they were considered more reliable. It is an excellent nonfiction novel that really gets you in the head of the standard American pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corp. It was my favorite book as a kid back in the 60s. I just found it on Internet Archive and reread it. You might have heard of them as they wrote the Bounty Trilogy.
Another great addition! The French have always made interesting aircraft in general, and fighters in particular and they built some of the best fighter's of the Great War. It's always interesting to speculate what they'd have come up with in World War 2, if they hadn't been ousted from the war in 1940, both in terms of aircraft and in engine design. Of course, the Soviets had purchased the Hispano-Suiza H12y engines and developed them to a great degree, so it's a tantalizing glimpse of what was possible. But it'd be very cool to see what French designers would have done with the engine, as well as with their other engines and their various aircraft. I look forward to your next video!
Foreign (Swiss, Czechoslovakian and Soviet) versions of the Hispano-Suiza V12s very much followed a convergent evolution to what the French were working on as of 1940: new cylinder head with 4 valves instead of just 2, more robust structure with higher rpm, fuel injection and ideally water/methanol injection. France had relatively few military aircraft engines in development by WW2 standards - just the Hispano-Suiza V12s and the Gnome-Rhône big 14-cylinder 14N/R and small 14-cylinder 14M.
Guynemer was memorialized in the symbol of the Hispano-Suiza engine and automobile company, the stork emblem depicted on his plane. It became the hood ornament on some of the most famous luxury cars of the '30s.
I’m a long time aviation nut, and a pilot (yes thats a redundant statement). Got to see the SPAD XIII only a month ago at the USAF museum in Dayton last month. Initially it seemed out of place, even in the early days exhibit. But the story and background shared by the museum curators…and in this video…the airplane absolutely fits in the USAF history. Its one of the many links from the Wright model B to the F22 of today.
Thanks again Greg. For whatever reason, of the hundreds of models I built from six years old, the Spad was my most built repeated example. At seventy one, it still pushes all my buttons.
You speak pf the inexperience of the pilots and this was a huge factor in the success of the Spad XIII. A remarkable WW1 fighter in that it really didn't have any serious vices. This in contrast to many other fighters which seemed to be designed to kill the pilot. Some planes, like the Camel, developed well-deserved reputations for killing novice pilots (and even some rather more experienced ones) due to unexpected and fatal quirks. A stable and forgiving aircraft that was also an effective fighter was a boon. Pilots were showing up at airfields with less than 20 hours of flight experience, and most of that in tame trainers (relatively speaking...even some of the trainers were temperamental beasts) . In many cases novice pilots showed up at operational squadrons never having laid eyes on the aircraft the unit was equipped with, much less have actually flown one. Talk about OJT.
Under the 1899 Hague Convention the 37 mm cannon was the smallest calibre that could fire an explosive round. That was ignored later on, but a lot of design work had been done around that size.
On the topic of Eddie Rickenbacker and the Americans who flew with the British, it is important to remember that British standards for verifying aerial victories were more lax than those of the French. This is also why British and Commonwealth pilots are disproportionately represented on lists of the most successful aces of WWI as compared to the French, despite the French by all accounts having the largest air force on the Western Front by the end of the war.
@@Triple_J.1 Also the first bomber to bomb berlin in ww2 was french Overall French aircrafts in ww2 had potential (especially the bombers such as the LeO 451 which was the best bomber at the begining of ww2) but they were too few in numbers and the army didn't organize what the manufacturers should produce, unlike germany, UK, USA or USSR
Nice one Greg. Definately thumbs up👍👍 Re the SE5, Jimmy McCudden tweeked his a bit. He fitted (he did it himself following his background as a mechanic) high compression pistons and the spinner from an Albatros. That latter alone he reconned as worth an extra 4mph. I suppose the former maintained the power at higher altitude as you told us for the Germans.
What I find interesting is the WW1 traditions carried over current time in the french air force. Many former WW1 "escadrilles" have existed since that time and attributed to current squadrons. Typically one squadron has 2 or more WW1 escadrilles as "tradition" and they are painted over the fin of the airplanes, that's why you can have two different escadrilles insignae one on each side of the vertical fin. WW1 was the big story for air war in France.
i built several models of the spad xlll as a boy in the early 1960's. the revelle model, a small aurora model and a guillow's balsa and tissue version. i was always fascinated with ww1 biplanes so this was a great video for me 60+ years later, thnx.
SPAD = Societe de Production d'Avion Deperdussin that stands for Society Production of Aircraft Deperdussin. Deperdussin is the name of the owner of the compagny
That was the original name of the company. After it went bankrupt in 1913, the assets were bought by a consortium led by Louis Blériot and reorganised as the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés, retaining the SPAD acronym.
He was also destroyed (name, company & financialy - think Capt Dryfus Affair, destroy someone, then admit not true latet) by the French government for trying to corner the disk market for covering aircraft. This eould have prevented the germans from building many aircraft at the outset of the war. This is 1 of the reasons Plszs used plywood for Albatros fuselage I believe. Outstanding designers and pilot.
@@marckyle5895In this case it was deliberate, as Berliot was both a friend & fellow investor in the silk scandal. Retaining the original name & later the acronym was to give the middle finger to the corrupt French government & courts
BTW the extra 20hp for the 8B came from high compression cylinders. James McCudden fitted them to his SE5a in early 1918 when it was still powered by the geared HS8B saying he sourced them from the French
It's hard to imagine the progress of aviation from 1920s to the 1940s, 20 yrs. is like nothing now. We still have combat planes flying that are over 50 yrs. old right now. I'm glad you mentioned the counter rotating prop on the Spad. There has always been something that looked different to me on the front of the French planes. Something I just couldn't put my finger on and I was looking at the twist of it when you said that. Another thing that's always puzzled me is do the frills/feathered edges of the tail do anything or is it just aesthetic. Great video of a plane I knew very little about. I knew they existed and that's about it. New Sub!
When I was a kid and spending much of my spare time building model aircraft, I was flying high the day I beat the rest of the crowd to the 5 n dime and got my Copy of the 13.my all time favorite bi plane. Well, maybe the Curtis Hawk ? Have you ever done an expose on the Hawk ? An absolute beaut.
Great video, and respect for the surprisingly proper pronounciation of french and german names👍By the way, Eddy Rickenbacher had swiss roots (his parents were from the canton of Basel) and died in Zürich in 1973.
Eddy was born Edward Rickenbacher, but changed his name's spelling to Rickenbacker in part because after working for the Sunbeam racing team in Britain during 1916, when he was followed by Scotland Yard agents who supected hinm of being a German spy.
When I was a kid - being plane mad - (double entendre intended) the Spad was one of my favourite's (in spite of me being English) because I loved how compact and rugged it looked as well as the flowing tail - but I didnt know I was right until now! Cheers for another great vid - all the best from Aotearoa
This was a blast to the past for me. Sixty years ago, I build a balsa and doped paper windup Spad model. They made the elevator and rudder bigger, of course. It flew- but not very impessively. Good thing the original didn't rely on rubber bands. Fascinating and informative as usual. Thanks from sunny Vienna, Scott
The first time I hear of a gear reduction system on a WW1 aircraft. I really thought it was first time applied on interbellum aircraft. Seeing the amount of trouble gear reduction systems still provided in the early thirties it is mind-boggling to me the system was already fifteen years in use. Thanks for this excellent video.
There could probably be a video discussing the definition of "best fighter". Airplanes like the S. XIII, Fokker D VII and so on were the most mature airplane designs at the end of the war but there are other airplanes that in their moment were, however briefly, the hot ticket. Morane monoplanes, Fokker Eindekkers, Halberstadts and others had their moment of being the best thing over the front. That is one of the fascinating things about WWI aviation is how quickly one design leapfrogged over another in terms of performance. An airplane I would like to see get some specific attention is the Pfalz DIIIa.
Excellent video as ever Greg. Marc Birkigt the HS mechanical engineer responsible for the 8y engine (and the 12y family) and a series of autocannons merits a video all of his own I think although it would be off your usual topic ;-)
I have been into aircraft from an early age building tons of plastic display models shunning WW1 planes and modern jets. I never gave up building plastic model kits. American Viet Nam helis were one of my favorites! At the age of 26 I bought a 1/32 scale F-14 Tomcat starting a passion for modern jets because of the movie "Final Countdown" Fast forward to 1996 when I got my first computer. In the cheap bargain bin at Best Buy one day I found Red Baron II cheap. I love the game! I have been hooked on WW1 aircraft ever since! I have several of the era's models one being Gunemeyet's S.P.A.D. !! Gonna be challenging to string flying wires!! WW1 planes are so darn pretty!! I have that, a Nieuport, Fokker Triplane, an Albatross D1 and an Albatross DVa. Have to get off my ass and build them!
RFC ace James McCudden was a talented aircraft mechanic valued for keeping Hs squadron flying at full strength. Once a pilot, he installed higher compression pistons and a simple turbocharger that increase high altitude performance. He died, ironically performing a ground loop and stalling out. A mechanic had improperly rebuilt the carburetor. Look closely at the head on photo of Richenbacker in his SPAD. The R machinegun was a french .44 incendiary based on the successful.303 that finally brought down Zeppelins mixed with explosive rounds. Another American pilot shot down 5 (4 credited) D7s in a solo combat using this Weapon. All Fokkers caught fire with fuel hits.) Fochs personal score was 127
And to think that only 7/8 years before Louis Blériot had had so much difficulty tracing the 30 km of sea separating France from England. The evolution of airplanes was completely crazy at that time.
I read that Rickenbacker used a standard vickers and an 11mm vickers on his Spad as a specific anti-balloon weapon. Forgotten Weapons has a review of one.
Love your channel and content. Fun fact. A friend of mine was going through his grandfather's storage trailer after he passed away and found a 1918 Hispano sueza engine repair manual that he gave to me. I went through the whole book 4 times including the blueprints. Boxed it up and gave it to Jay Leno in Cali for his car powered by Hispano Sueza. Someone called me to thank me....but I was not home!
I love these WW1 aircraft videos. It might be nice to see a video about some of the other nations like maybe the Italians who really had some funky ideas. In this video it kept out at me at the end of the video the SPAD 13 had been built to the tune of some 8400 aircraft. Now that with all the Sopwith designs, SE 5 must been overwhelming for the Germans who mostly had a few hundred of their better designs in the sky available at any time for frontline use.
Fun factoid: SPAD sounds spad, a slang form of Czech "spadl" = "he fell". Another joke from this era was about Roskopf watches. Yes, it means "pink head", but in Czech "rozkopl" is "he kicked [something so it fell apart]". Which is more appropriate, Roskopf was a budget watch that basically couldn't be repaired.
Great video and I love the topic. WWI Aviation has always been one of my most favorite military subjects and was one of my inspirations to pursue a career as a military pilot, albeit an Army helicopter pilot. Thank you for posting this.
As we say here in England, 'if it looks right, it usually is right' the spad was easily the best looking plane of the great war. And those engines are still sort after for vintage sports car racing specials.
The standard 2 gun placement on the SPAD 13 was also better than on the SE5 IMO. Atleast the variants we had access to in Rise of Flight and Flying Cirus.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles Overall yes, BUT the (air cooled, lighter weight and uninterrupted) lewis gun allowed you to attack a plane directly above you if you got under it, McCudden, Bishop and Ball all scored kills this way.
Very rare opportunities to employ that aspect of the Lewis gun by unusually skilled individuals does not offset the benefit to the vast majority of pilots that having both guns at eye level fixed forward provided. Having both guns being belt feed also benefits the pilot. The Lewis gun needed to be manually reloaded in flight. Not ideal. I still give the weapons set up advantage to the 13.
@@iflycentralI basically agree however Albert Ball and Bishop used the tactic a lot as a lone wolf earlier in the war with the element of surprise meaning he could get very close undetected (WW1 'Jazz music'?). James McCudden talks of Ball and using this tactic and so it is a thing. McCudden also used it at very high altitudes so I suspect it was not a 'dogfighting' strategy but a 'hunting' one.
The WWI videos are great Great Thank You so much for doing them! Think someday you might do a few videos on the interwar years and Golden Age of flying?
My grandfather was in the AAC in the Great War and he ferried these up to the front, never saw aerial combat. Took them to the forward aerodromes and then took the train back to the depot to get another. "They also serve who stand and wait.
Greg I just found your channel and love it. I’ve been flying since I was 15 and am now 39 and work for a major. I’m learning tons watching your videos. Thanks!
Hey Greg, great video. Could I suggest making a video about the Hannover Cl.II-V series of German ground attack planes? They had a pretty illustrious history being well liked by their crews, but there is almost no info about them on TH-cam
I’ve watched a couple of your videos, and they are really great. I am hoping that you have plans to cover the S.E.5:5a (developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory) at some point in the somewhat near future, both because I feel that it’s an interesting fighter in context of the air war but also for selfish reasons (there are quite a few of us who like these vintage warbirds that have some affection for this plane.) Thanks for the great videos, look forward to watching more of the videos you’ve already posted!
At the age of 10 or 11, ca. 1956, I discovered a trove of WWI aviation books in my hometown library, I devoured them. Their names, and much of their content, is long gone now, but not my interest in Warbirds and fluid dynamics. Some of the books were about Americans flying for England or France before the US entered the war. I do recall that the Spad was the most favored allied aircraft, that for a certain timespan the average lifespan of new aviators was about a month, and a fellow named Bishop from Canada (my grandparents were canadian) had an extraordinary run of wins before returning home. I think it was a win a day for a month. You may correct me on any of that. I built a number of Balsa and tissue WWI aircraft models that fought over my bed on monofilament fishing line.
The Spad was in high demand and the French refused to give any to the greenhorn American units. However once the Americans turned in some impressive kills with flimsy Nieuport 28 they relented and re-equiped US units with the Spad 13.
G'day, Thanks for posting this, I never knew much about S.P.A.D.s - they all looked pretty much alike in the Photos and one seemed to need lots of prior specialist knowledge to tell them apart from 20 paces (!). The numerical designation convention with the S.P.A.D. types seems to indicate only the "cluster" of features which were together "frozen" as a set of Plans for mass-production ; whereas the Nieuports apparently settled on the practice of naming their Fighters to reflect their Wing-Area - so a Nieuport-11 had 11 square metres of Lifting-Surface , and when a bigger Engine for more Speed required more Fuel in a stronger Fuselage on a stronger Undercarriage, which all required an extra couple of square metres of Wings to lift that-all aloft..., thus birthing the Nieuport 13... Adding more Power still, and bolting on a second Gun..., thus created the Nieuport-17 ; Which makes thinking about the different versions very much easier - I find. And, because the numerical Marques of the S.P.A.D's are pretty close to those of the Nieuports..., then for a while I had the impression that, "Number = Square-Metres of Wing Area....", for both types of French WW-1 Fighters....; but 7 Square Metres would never have lifted a S.P.A.D-VII off the runway..., methunketh (?) ! So, thanks for clearing that up for me ! Have a good one... Stay safe. ;-p Ciao !
As usual, a great in depth review. Interesting to hear that Spads were relatively easy to fly considering they have no dihedral. I'd also like to hear more about American aces flying for the British who had higher scores than Rickenbacker. That's something I never knew before.
Guynemer is still famous in my house, only because I have seen some shows that mention him, including The Great Waldo Pepper which is one of my favorites. The Ernst Kessler character is fascinating and portrayed brilliantly. Worthy film. Great episode here, referencing that film as WELL as Count Francesco Baracca who's Prancing Horse was bestowed upon Enzo Ferrari, the founder of that great performance car company. And that lovely SPAD... great stuff here as always.
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Had a model of this airplane when I was a little boy. One thing problem with the pilots breathing in burning oil fumes from the engines, diarrhea. It's one of the two reasons a lot of them drank so much, the other being combat stress.
11:57 AM CST
The 37mm/1pdr was very popular for legal reasons. A a shell weight of at least 400 grams (0.88 lb) was the lightest exploding shell allowed under the Saint Petersburg Declaration of 1868 and reaffirmed in the Hague Convention of 1899, and that was used to develop the 1pdr pom-pom among other infantry weapons like the French trench gun shown here, which also armed French light tanks until WWII starting with the Renault FT. It was also used in anti shipping/submarine warfare by the big French boatplanes
I guess 40mm grenades are now classified as anti-belt-buckle ordnance.
@@Treblaineno, rifle grenades. Completely different category and semantics.
Wow, that makes sense!
@@kiloalphasierra That's not a distinction that is made in any of the treaties. The St Petersburg Declaration was specifically over concern of a new design of exploding projectile shot from a rifle.
The 40mm grenades is also shot from tripod or pintle mounted weapons that are absolutely not shoulder fired rifles.
Thanks for posting this so I didn’t have to lol. Funny how they thought that killing you with one size of shell was ok but not with another 👌
I'm test flying one of the 3 known (to me) airworthy replicas right now and I can confirm it's a marvelous aircraft. Climbs like a bat out of hell and so far has no nasty characteristics. Absolutely beautiful flyer!
Just commenting to keep the algorithm manifold pressure high.
I'm adding Methanol-water mix to my comment to prevent knock.
That's an outstanding idea!
@@Subhumanoid_ha! 😊
@@Subhumanoid_
Tell me if it works, for whatever reason TH-cam has been erasing my replies to people alot lately, gettin' a little sick of it to, people can say whatever they want to me or about my country and i give them a reply, no cuss words or threats or anything like that, and my replies won't post.
@@dukecraig2402 Yeah, and then later you get bell notifications to that thread, someone new posted, but your comment isn't there anymore.
As a kid in the 1960's, I corresponded with Eddie Rickenbacker. My inspiration for starting the correspondence was actually the portrayal of Snoopy as a WWI flying ace. After that, I bought all the books I could on WWI and the fight in the air. In the Early 1970's, I think, but am not positive that I met O.C. LeBoutillier (Richthofen's last fight) at a motel cafe in Las Vegas, Nevada. My family was on vacation and I was drawing the picture of a biplane on my place mat. An elderly gentleman and his wife were in the booth next to us and when he got up, he noticed my artwork. He told me he used to fly similar aircraft a long time ago. LeBoutillier ended his days in Las Vegas and at that time, it wasn't the mess it is today. He smiled at us and they left the cafe.
The exposed valve gear of most WWI engines is no accident. The valve spring alloys of the time were notorious for relaxing (stress relieving) at relatively modest temperatures. Most engine designers felt the valve springs needed to be exposed to a flow of cooling air. That Marc Birkigt was able to get away with enclosed valve gear suggests he may have known more than others about the use of better valve spring alloys. The generally lower operating temperature of a liquid cooled engine compared to an air cooled rotary may also have helped. .
He probably had oil pumping up into the enclosed areas that ran down over the springs cooling them because his engine had a circulating oil system instead of a constant loss system, that's exactly why OHV motorcycle engine's of that era had exposed top end valve gear and then suddenly within a few years everyone had switched to enclosed.
Early motorcycle engines were also constant loss, lubricating oils back then were really crappy and couldn't survive being circulated around and around continuously in an engine, their properties broke down too quickly and would have trashed a motor in no time that was circulating it constantly, it would get too thin and all the other bad things the molecules in oil do without additives in it, since they were constant loss systems they couldn't spare any oil to flow over valve springs and stems to cool them so they just left them exposed to be air cooled, once oils were good enough that they could survive being recurculated they started designing engines with fully enclosed valve trains that have oil pumped up to them that runs down over the collars, springs and valve stems cooling them.
That is a cool educated observation.
Thanks. I was 11 when I made my first large model of a SPAD XIII, US paint. My Grandfather fought the last 9 weeks of WWI on the front: infantry. Took out most of his hearing and smell. By 1946, he had a throat cancer from being gased. He died in the big VA hospital outside Chicago. Thanks for the memories.
God bless him and your family and memories.
Orémus Y'all.
Speaking of history... There is a Japanese carrier Kaga finally in San Diego. And it's going to be flying US Marine f-35s. Talk about a Twilight Zone episode...... 😏📺
US Marine aviators are searching for Japanese carrier Kaga. The more things change the more they stay the same. Bet they'll have an easier time finding and approaching her this time around.
We live in a bizarro timeline
Cool. Really.
I’m glad you mentioned the Italians they are the most forgotten major combatants in WW1
I for one would absolutely love a video about WWI aces.
You can start with this vid, a very interesting presentation of the evolution of WW1 planes which also talks about some of the aces.
th-cam.com/video/CU7hc8bV-jQ/w-d-xo.html
Great video. I've always loved the SPAD XIII. I hope you'll do video's on the SE5a, and the Bristol F2B soon.
As a teen back in the sixties I was a member of the Society of World War I Aero Historians. Most of this international group were actual WWI veterans, many pilots. They published a quarterly scholarly Geographic-sized B/W periodical with many photographs and maps. As a young modeler, I was in Heaven. I loaned three years or so of these to a high school chum and he kept immaculate care of them until he recently sent them all back to me.
I thank Ed Sterling, a fellow enthusiast and a veteran himself.
Orémus Y'all.
I love this Great War aircraft series, I hope there will be a part about the S.E.5a too.🙂
Yes, please!
Also, in depth on Fokker D.VIII.
As a British enthusiast, I had never heard of American pilots in Britain during WW1. If you do cover the topic, I would love to learn more.
As a kid I read a book called "No Parachute." It was a collection of letters to his wife, written by an American volunteer pilot flying for the British. It was a great read, I wish I could find a copy.
@unklekal7571 that was not from an American. It's Arthur Gould. The Audio book is amazing as well. He has another called open cockpit, which covers more of his camel flying (no parachute was more of his time in pups). I can't say enough good about No Parachute. An amazing book if you want to know about the life, and death of a ww1 aviator.
@@justinfluegel8502
Thanks! You just fed my book habit!
If Americans wanted to fly in vombat before the US joined the war, what were they to do?
Some ended up in France and joined the Lafayette Escadrilles, but between the common language and the ease of travelling to the British Empire many joined what would become the RAF. The big difference is likely that there were not American squadrons, but the Americans were disbursed the same as any other airman so telling a specifically American story is a lot harder.
Separately the US sent a group of pilots to England when they joined the war in order to learn from the British. When Billy Bishop (creditted as the Empire's leading ace) got to pick pilots for his squadron he selected several of those Americans who went on to become aces.
Back in early 1960s I built WW1 wood and paper models. My favorite and last was the SPAD. Dad, as engineering professor guided me and told me a lot about WW1 fighters.
Great program and great subject. I appreciate how you were able to tie this one in with Rod Serling, Ferrari and, perhaps the most influential movie of my youth, The Great Waldo Pepper!
The Spad XIII might be the best french fighter of WWI but the Nieuport 28 certainly was the best sounding one. Imagine your typical 1980's lawnmower growing into some kind of mutant hulk monster. That's about the sound of the 160 hp Monosoupape
The most graceful and beautiful of WW1 fighters, too.
When America entered WWI, the French had largely standardized on the Spad, allowing them to supply American units with Nieuports, initially used 17’s and then new 28’s. Most American units were happy to eventually exchange the fragile Nieuport 28’s for Spad 13’s, but according to Herschel Smith in “Aircraft Piston Engines”, the U.S. First Pursuit Group actually preferred the Nieuport 28, regarding the Spad 13 to be a truck by comparison. The unit’s mechanics included a number of ex-race car mechanics, who were able to apply hop up tricks to the big Monosoupape Gnome rotary engines to improve their performance and reliability.
The Gnome 160 was a dated design, was just really loud and not very efficient. There were a number of better designed rotary-radials; the Clerget 130 through 170 hp and the Bentley clones of the Clerget.
And they sound like proper aircraft engines, the Gnome is just a noxiously loud wall of white noise, with not a lot of power for all of the racket. There should be some credit going to the clockwork ignition couping system for throttling the Gnome, but it's carburetor was abysmally primitive when all other WWI rotary aircraft engines were improving their designs to "tick-over" at partial throttle settings.
Also the series of two stroke like transfer channels in the lower cylinder were a big hindrance of that engine making any more power, it capped the engine's volumetric efficiency and curbed it's ability to efficiently fly above 13K. A good engine for rough fields and spotty maintenance, but you never had the German Imperial Air forces offer a crate of Champagne to one of their pilots who downed a Gnome equipped Entente fighter intact. And that's because they had already moved on from the Oberusal UO series of engines.
BRRRRRRRRNMMMMMWWWAAAAAAGHHMMRRRMRMRMR
The success of the SPAD is all the more amazing when one looks at the original, which put the observer/gunner in front of the prop in a little pod supported by ungainly struts. It looks so much like one of those planes that's just going to be a forgotten oddity.
Along came interrupter gear and a simple redesign produced the VII.
The inner wing struts are not for bracing, but just to steady the wires and thus reduce drag. I think one reason the SPAD (and SE5a) were so good was the strength of the airframe: confidence must have been so important without parachutes and aircraft that would readily fold up.
Guynemer was a huge hero in France, more likeable than some of his contemporaries. I urge viewers to look at photos of him from lare 1916, and late 1917 before his death. Soldiers in this war aged so fast, looking fatigued and drawn. But not von Richtofen!
Thanks!
Regarding reversal of the propeller rotation catching some pilots out, I've read of something similar with the change from the Merlin to the Griffon engine (which rotated the other way) in later marks of Spitfire.
A great lesson on the difference in thermal conductivity between steel and aluminum can be learned by taking a sip of scalding hot C-Rat coffee from an aluminum canteen cup when you're accustomed to drinking from a steel canteen cup. The difference will be burned into your memory, just as the skin of your lip was burned onto the rim of the aluminum canteen cup.
I hope the merch stays available a long time, you’re really twisting my arm here with WWI stuff AND it’s available for south paws! Next level, thanks Greg!
Thanks, my wife is left handed. I didn't even know there was such a thing as left handed mugs until she told me.
Absolutely my favourite aircraft of WW1 !
Spoken like a true authority and a German no less! Love your channel. SPAD was a beautiful aircraft!
Hi Chris, It's always nice to see you here, and I look forward to your next video.
For me it's a tossup between this and the SE5a, and this video makes it clear why.
Back in the '80s I played a lot of a WWI air combat wargame, the name of which escapes me. Anyway, my go-to was a SPAD XIII flown by Lt. George LeSaveur. I amassed a very respectable record. Speed is what really matters.
You mentioned about the lower horsepower in the SPAD 13 and if you read the book Falcons of France by Charles Nordhoff and James Norman Hall they mention that quite a few pilots liked the 180 and 200 horsepower engines as they were considered more reliable. It is an excellent nonfiction novel that really gets you in the head of the standard American pilot in the Lafayette Flying Corp. It was my favorite book as a kid back in the 60s. I just found it on Internet Archive and reread it. You might have heard of them as they wrote the Bounty Trilogy.
High Flew The Falcons by Herbert Mason is also good
Another great addition!
The French have always made interesting aircraft in general, and fighters in particular and they built some of the best fighter's of the Great War. It's always interesting to speculate what they'd have come up with in World War 2, if they hadn't been ousted from the war in 1940, both in terms of aircraft and in engine design. Of course, the Soviets had purchased the Hispano-Suiza H12y engines and developed them to a great degree, so it's a tantalizing glimpse of what was possible. But it'd be very cool to see what French designers would have done with the engine, as well as with their other engines and their various aircraft.
I look forward to your next video!
Foreign (Swiss, Czechoslovakian and Soviet) versions of the Hispano-Suiza V12s very much followed a convergent evolution to what the French were working on as of 1940: new cylinder head with 4 valves instead of just 2, more robust structure with higher rpm, fuel injection and ideally water/methanol injection. France had relatively few military aircraft engines in development by WW2 standards - just the Hispano-Suiza V12s and the Gnome-Rhône big 14-cylinder 14N/R and small 14-cylinder 14M.
Guynemer was memorialized in the symbol of the Hispano-Suiza engine and automobile company, the stork emblem depicted on his plane. It became the hood ornament on some of the most famous luxury cars of the '30s.
It just looks right to me. Always liked that kite.
I’m a long time aviation nut, and a pilot (yes thats a redundant statement). Got to see the SPAD XIII only a month ago at the USAF museum in Dayton last month. Initially it seemed out of place, even in the early days exhibit. But the story and background shared by the museum curators…and in this video…the airplane absolutely fits in the USAF history. Its one of the many links from the Wright model B to the F22 of today.
Thanks again Greg. For whatever reason, of the hundreds of models I built from six years old, the Spad was my most built repeated example. At seventy one, it still pushes all my buttons.
You speak pf the inexperience of the pilots and this was a huge factor in the success of the Spad XIII. A remarkable WW1 fighter in that it really didn't have any serious vices. This in contrast to many other fighters which seemed to be designed to kill the pilot. Some planes, like the Camel, developed well-deserved reputations for killing novice pilots (and even some rather more experienced ones) due to unexpected and fatal quirks. A stable and forgiving aircraft that was also an effective fighter was a boon. Pilots were showing up at airfields with less than 20 hours of flight experience, and most of that in tame trainers (relatively speaking...even some of the trainers were temperamental beasts) . In many cases novice pilots showed up at operational squadrons never having laid eyes on the aircraft the unit was equipped with, much less have actually flown one. Talk about OJT.
I've always liked that the Douglas Skyraider was called a SPAD but again, that's a story for another day.
Under the 1899 Hague Convention the 37 mm cannon was the smallest calibre that could fire an explosive round. That was ignored later on, but a lot of design work had been done around that size.
On the topic of Eddie Rickenbacker and the Americans who flew with the British, it is important to remember that British standards for verifying aerial victories were more lax than those of the French. This is also why British and Commonwealth pilots are disproportionately represented on lists of the most successful aces of WWI as compared to the French, despite the French by all accounts having the largest air force on the Western Front by the end of the war.
The French have historically been relegated to second rate. In spite of their dominant position in aviation in the years prior to perhaps 1935.
@@Triple_J.1 Also the first bomber to bomb berlin in ww2 was french
Overall French aircrafts in ww2 had potential (especially the bombers such as the LeO 451 which was the best bomber at the begining of ww2) but they were too few in numbers and the army didn't organize what the manufacturers should produce, unlike germany, UK, USA or USSR
Congratulations on 150k subs. Higher, faster, farther! And a mile of burnt rubber on the road. Thanks Greg
Nice one Greg. Definately thumbs up👍👍
Re the SE5, Jimmy McCudden tweeked his a bit. He fitted (he did it himself following his background as a mechanic) high compression pistons and the spinner from an Albatros. That latter alone he reconned as worth an extra 4mph. I suppose the former maintained the power at higher altitude as you told us for the Germans.
What I find interesting is the WW1 traditions carried over current time in the french air force. Many former WW1 "escadrilles" have existed since that time and attributed to current squadrons. Typically one squadron has 2 or more WW1 escadrilles as "tradition" and they are painted over the fin of the airplanes, that's why you can have two different escadrilles insignae one on each side of the vertical fin. WW1 was the big story for air war in France.
i built several models of the spad xlll as a boy in the early 1960's. the revelle model, a small aurora model and a guillow's balsa and tissue version. i was always fascinated with ww1 biplanes so this was a great video for me 60+ years later, thnx.
SPAD = Societe de Production d'Avion Deperdussin that stands for Society Production of Aircraft Deperdussin. Deperdussin is the name of the owner of the compagny
That was the original name of the company. After it went bankrupt in 1913, the assets were bought by a consortium led by Louis Blériot and reorganised as the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés, retaining the SPAD acronym.
@@jdoniach Ah, that's why the confusion. When you buy a company, change the name!
@@marckyle5895
Probably a tax dodge.
Some things will never change.
He was also destroyed (name, company & financialy - think Capt Dryfus Affair, destroy someone, then admit not true latet) by the French government for trying to corner the disk market for covering aircraft. This eould have prevented the germans from building many aircraft at the outset of the war. This is 1 of the reasons Plszs used plywood for Albatros fuselage I believe.
Outstanding designers and pilot.
@@marckyle5895In this case it was deliberate, as Berliot was both a friend & fellow investor in the silk scandal.
Retaining the original name & later the acronym was to give the middle finger to the corrupt French government & courts
BTW the extra 20hp for the 8B came from high compression cylinders. James McCudden fitted them to his SE5a in early 1918 when it was still powered by the geared HS8B saying he sourced them from the French
Always had a soft place in my heart for The SPAD13, built a model of it when I was a young lad!
I honestly think Guynemer may have been the best of them all. Interesting video as always.
It probably helped that he had little fear of dying in combat. He was dying of tuberculosis anyway.
It's hard to imagine the progress of aviation from 1920s to the 1940s, 20 yrs. is like nothing now. We still have combat planes flying that are over 50 yrs. old right now. I'm glad you mentioned the counter rotating prop on the Spad. There has always been something that looked different to me on the front of the French planes. Something I just couldn't put my finger on and I was looking at the twist of it when you said that. Another thing that's always puzzled me is do the frills/feathered edges of the tail do anything or is it just aesthetic. Great video of a plane I knew very little about. I knew they existed and that's about it. New Sub!
Frills on the wings too, it looks like. Would it just be the shrinkage of the fabric over the frames, caused by applying dope?
When I was a kid and spending much of my spare time building model aircraft, I was flying high the day I beat the rest of the crowd to the 5 n dime and got my Copy of the 13.my all time favorite bi plane. Well, maybe the Curtis Hawk ?
Have you ever done an expose on the Hawk ? An absolute beaut.
I enjoyed your description of the differences between the model 7, 10 and 13. It is interesting to see the major differences.
Great video, and respect for the surprisingly proper pronounciation of french and german names👍By the way, Eddy Rickenbacher had swiss roots (his parents were from the canton of Basel) and died in Zürich in 1973.
Eddy was born Edward Rickenbacher, but changed his name's spelling to Rickenbacker in part because after working for the Sunbeam racing team in Britain during 1916, when he was followed by Scotland Yard agents who supected hinm of being a German spy.
When I was a kid - being plane mad - (double entendre intended) the Spad was one of my favourite's (in spite of me being English) because I loved how compact and rugged it looked as well as the flowing tail - but I didnt know I was right until now! Cheers for another great vid - all the best from Aotearoa
Great info. The sidebars (stainless v aluminum, eg) are a very nice feature, fun. Thanks!
Thank you.
This channel deserves more than 150k subscribers. Spread the word.
Thanks Robert.
SPAD XIII by far my fav WW 1 aircraft. Thank you for covering it!
This was a blast to the past for me. Sixty years ago, I build a balsa and doped paper windup Spad model. They made the elevator and rudder bigger, of course. It flew- but not very impessively. Good thing the original didn't rely on rubber bands.
Fascinating and informative as usual. Thanks from sunny Vienna, Scott
Thanks - I saw a replica at the Duxford air museum just a fortnight ago; it's a shame I hadn't seen viewed video first!
The first time I hear of a gear reduction system on a WW1 aircraft. I really thought it was first time applied on interbellum aircraft. Seeing the amount of trouble gear reduction systems still provided in the early thirties it is mind-boggling to me the system was already fifteen years in use.
Thanks for this excellent video.
There could probably be a video discussing the definition of "best fighter". Airplanes like the S. XIII, Fokker D VII and so on were the most mature airplane designs at the end of the war but there are other airplanes that in their moment were, however briefly, the hot ticket. Morane monoplanes, Fokker Eindekkers, Halberstadts and others had their moment of being the best thing over the front. That is one of the fascinating things about WWI aviation is how quickly one design leapfrogged over another in terms of performance.
An airplane I would like to see get some specific attention is the Pfalz DIIIa.
And D.VIII, Gotha, Eindecker, etc.
Excellent video as ever Greg. Marc Birkigt the HS mechanical engineer responsible for the 8y engine (and the 12y family) and a series of autocannons merits a video all of his own I think although it would be off your usual topic ;-)
I have been into aircraft from an early age building tons of plastic display models shunning WW1 planes and modern jets. I never gave up building plastic model kits. American Viet Nam helis were one of my favorites! At the age of 26 I bought a 1/32 scale F-14 Tomcat starting a passion for modern jets because of the movie "Final Countdown" Fast forward to 1996 when I got my first computer. In the cheap bargain bin at Best Buy one day I found Red Baron II cheap. I love the game! I have been hooked on WW1 aircraft ever since! I have several of the era's models one being Gunemeyet's S.P.A.D. !! Gonna be challenging to string flying wires!! WW1 planes are so darn pretty!! I have that, a Nieuport, Fokker Triplane, an Albatross D1 and an Albatross DVa. Have to get off my ass and build them!
RFC ace James McCudden was a talented aircraft mechanic valued for keeping
Hs squadron flying at full strength. Once a pilot, he installed higher compression pistons and a simple turbocharger that increase high altitude performance. He died, ironically performing a ground loop and stalling out. A mechanic had improperly rebuilt the carburetor.
Look closely at the head on photo of Richenbacker in his SPAD. The R machinegun was a french .44 incendiary based on the successful.303 that finally brought down Zeppelins mixed with explosive rounds.
Another American pilot shot down 5 (4 credited) D7s in a solo combat using this
Weapon. All Fokkers caught fire with fuel hits.)
Fochs personal score was 127
Awesome, great time to check ur uploads. Huge fan of how well researched and put together your videos are :D
And to think that only 7/8 years before Louis Blériot had had so much difficulty tracing the 30 km of sea separating France from England. The evolution of airplanes was completely crazy at that time.
Thanks Greg. I've had a fascination with all things mechanical my whole life.
Thanks for not calling it the S.P.A.D as some other TH-camrs do.
Excellent review of an excellent single seater.
I read that Rickenbacker used a standard vickers and an 11mm vickers on his Spad as a specific anti-balloon weapon. Forgotten Weapons has a review of one.
Love your channel and content. Fun fact. A friend of mine was going through his grandfather's storage trailer after he passed away and found a 1918 Hispano sueza engine repair manual that he gave to me. I went through the whole book 4 times including the blueprints. Boxed it up and gave it to Jay Leno in Cali for his car powered by Hispano Sueza. Someone called me to thank me....but I was not home!
I love these WW1 aircraft videos. It might be nice to see a video about some of the other nations like maybe the Italians who really had some funky ideas. In this video it kept out at me at the end of the video the SPAD 13 had been built to the tune of some 8400 aircraft. Now that with all the Sopwith designs, SE 5 must been overwhelming for the Germans who mostly had a few hundred of their better designs in the sky available at any time for frontline use.
Thanks for the video!!
I would like to see a video about the Bristol f2b fighter, that would be super cool!
WAKE UP!! NEW GREG VIDEO!!
The Spad had nice lines, too. Ties the Sopwith Camel and Pup as my favorite WWI fighter aircraft.
Never knew how they did the cannon fire through the hub!
Never thought about it before!
Fun factoid: SPAD sounds spad, a slang form of Czech "spadl" = "he fell".
Another joke from this era was about Roskopf watches. Yes, it means "pink head", but in Czech "rozkopl" is "he kicked [something so it fell apart]". Which is more appropriate, Roskopf was a budget watch that basically couldn't be repaired.
Great video and I love the topic. WWI Aviation has always been one of my most favorite military subjects and was one of my inspirations to pursue a career as a military pilot, albeit an Army helicopter pilot. Thank you for posting this.
I just got back from Rhinebeck and I see this video! Perfection. Love the details! Thanks Greg!
@1:53, I'll go along with your pronunciation, because no way do I want to mess with Rod Sirling! :)
As we say here in England, 'if it looks right, it usually is right' the spad was easily the best looking plane of the great war.
And those engines are still sort after for vintage sports car racing specials.
Comet had a nice Dime Scale version as you probably recall.😊
Comment for algorithm. Did really enjoy this one.An aircraft I didn't know a lot about.Thanks,Greg.I shall look forward to the next video.
The SPAD had no real pfalz? Kidding, kidding. Hey, a comment is a comment.
18:55 the 3 airplanes scream "WW1 super props" to me 😂
I was thinking that same thing.
The standard 2 gun placement on the SPAD 13 was also better than on the SE5 IMO. Atleast the variants we had access to in Rise of Flight and Flying Cirus.
That's a great point. The Se5a's gun set up isn't as good as the Spad's.
@@GregsAirplanesandAutomobiles Overall yes, BUT the (air cooled, lighter weight and uninterrupted) lewis gun allowed you to attack a plane directly above you if you got under it, McCudden, Bishop and Ball all scored kills this way.
Although the overwing Lewis gun allowed for a lot of trick-shot opportunities by experienced pilots.
Very rare opportunities to employ that aspect of the Lewis gun by unusually skilled individuals does not offset the benefit to the vast majority of pilots that having both guns at eye level fixed forward provided. Having both guns being belt feed also benefits the pilot. The Lewis gun needed to be manually reloaded in flight. Not ideal. I still give the weapons set up advantage to the 13.
@@iflycentralI basically agree however Albert Ball and Bishop used the tactic a lot as a lone wolf earlier in the war with the element of surprise meaning he could get very close undetected (WW1 'Jazz music'?). James McCudden talks of Ball and using this tactic and so it is a thing. McCudden also used it at very high altitudes so I suspect it was not a 'dogfighting' strategy but a 'hunting' one.
The WWI videos are great Great Thank You so much for doing them! Think someday you might do a few videos on the interwar years and Golden Age of flying?
I remember even at a young age recognizing that the SPAD clearly pointed the way towards the future. There were some smart people behind it.
Excellent video, as ever. Thanks for your work Greg.
My grandfather was in the AAC in the Great War and he ferried these up to the front, never saw aerial combat. Took them to the forward aerodromes and then took the train back to the depot to get another. "They also serve who stand and wait.
The Spad and the se-5 are i think two of the best looking aircraft of Ww1.
Greg I just found your channel and love it. I’ve been flying since I was 15 and am now 39 and work for a major. I’m learning tons watching your videos. Thanks!
Greg ,i was in tears when you said the albatross pilot would make an emergency visit to the Bathroom 😂
Thanks Greg , i was waiting for your SPAD XIII analysis 🎉
Another great video to add to the list.
I really appreciate your balanced and clinical approach to these subjects.
Thank you.
Hey Greg, great video. Could I suggest making a video about the Hannover Cl.II-V series of German ground attack planes? They had a pretty illustrious history being well liked by their crews, but there is almost no info about them on TH-cam
I’ve watched a couple of your videos, and they are really great. I am hoping that you have plans to cover the S.E.5:5a (developed at the Royal Aircraft Factory) at some point in the somewhat near future, both because I feel that it’s an interesting fighter in context of the air war but also for selfish reasons (there are quite a few of us who like these vintage warbirds that have some affection for this plane.)
Thanks for the great videos, look forward to watching more of the videos you’ve already posted!
At the age of 10 or 11, ca. 1956, I discovered a trove of WWI aviation books in my hometown library, I devoured them. Their names, and much of their content, is long gone now, but not my interest in Warbirds and fluid dynamics. Some of the books were about Americans flying for England or France before the US entered the war. I do recall that the Spad was the most favored allied aircraft, that for a certain timespan the average lifespan of new aviators was about a month, and a fellow named Bishop from Canada (my grandparents were canadian) had an extraordinary run of wins before returning home. I think it was a win a day for a month. You may correct me on any of that.
I built a number of Balsa and tissue WWI aircraft models that fought over my bed on monofilament fishing line.
The Spad XIII was the first Revel model aircraft I ever had. Love this plane.
Same here, it was the first one I built as well.
Thanks for making these videos. I've always wanted learn more aviation history.
The Spad was in high demand and the French refused to give any to the greenhorn American units. However once the Americans turned in some impressive kills with flimsy Nieuport 28 they relented and re-equiped US units with the Spad 13.
G'day,
Thanks for posting this,
I never knew much about S.P.A.D.s - they all looked pretty much alike in the Photos and one seemed to need lots of prior specialist knowledge to tell them apart from 20 paces (!).
The numerical designation convention with the S.P.A.D. types seems to indicate only the "cluster" of features which were together "frozen" as a set of Plans for mass-production ; whereas the Nieuports apparently settled on the practice of naming their Fighters to reflect their Wing-Area - so a Nieuport-11 had 11 square metres of Lifting-Surface , and when a bigger Engine for more Speed required more Fuel in a stronger Fuselage on a stronger Undercarriage, which all required an extra couple of square metres of Wings to lift that-all aloft..., thus birthing the
Nieuport 13...
Adding more Power still, and bolting on a second Gun..., thus created the Nieuport-17 ;
Which makes thinking about the different versions very much easier - I find.
And, because the numerical Marques of the S.P.A.D's are pretty close to those of the Nieuports..., then for a while I had the impression that,
"Number = Square-Metres of
Wing Area....",
for both types of French WW-1 Fighters....; but 7 Square Metres would never have lifted a S.P.A.D-VII off the runway..., methunketh (?) !
So, thanks for clearing that up for me !
Have a good one...
Stay safe.
;-p
Ciao !
"Take it up with Rod Serling"...lol.
That applies to SO many things in 2024 😂
"Best fighter of that year" is probably the best way to classify WW1 fighters. Maybe month instead of year
Good point.
Coming from a racing background, Rickenbacker advised his squadron mates to go easy on the engines and not run them at full power until necessary.
Thank you sir.
I like the lowered top wing. It gives the SPAD a sleek look.
As usual, a great in depth review. Interesting to hear that Spads were relatively easy to fly considering they have no dihedral. I'd also like to hear more about American aces flying for the British who had higher scores than Rickenbacker. That's something I never knew before.
Guynemer is still famous in my house, only because I have seen some shows that mention him, including The Great Waldo Pepper which is one of my favorites. The Ernst Kessler character is fascinating and portrayed brilliantly. Worthy film.
Great episode here, referencing that film as WELL as Count Francesco Baracca who's Prancing Horse was bestowed upon Enzo Ferrari, the founder of that great performance car company.
And that lovely SPAD... great stuff here as always.
IMO the spad is head and shoulders above all other WWII aircraft in looks.