SPAD XIII ...

[Mark Allen M]

Photos from the Rudy Arnold Photo Collection.
Color photos in link below.
http://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?ea ... 56_ref1360
B&W photos in link below.
http://edan.si.edu/slideshow/viewer/?ea ... 56_ref1049

I recall Clifford Bossie discussing this SPAD a while ago.

Last edited by Mark Allen M on Thu Aug 06, 2020 8:19 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Mark Allen M]

Not enough SPAD replicas flying around.


First Lieutenant Edward V. Rickenbacker (October 8th, 1890 - July 23rd, 1973) in front of his Spad XIII C.1 scout of the 94th Aero Squadron.


Brilliantly Painted 94th Aero Squadron Spad XIII.


94th Aero Squadron posed behind Harvey Weir Cook's SPAD XIII (S.13).




Aircraft of the 94th ("hat-in-the-ring") Aero Squadron, "Eastah Aigg" (above) was flown by Captain Sam Kaye, "Rising Sun" (below) by Lieutenant John Jeffers.

[Mark Allen M]

By the fall of 1918, most of the U.S. combat fighter squadrons flew the French-made Spad XIII in battle.


SPAD S.XIII, 22nd Aero Squadron.


Another SPAD (Replica I believe)

[Mark Allen M]

Below photos of crashed Spad XIII S7921 of "balloon buster" Sous Lieutenant Jacques Louis Ehrlich

[Baldeagle]

That SPAD in the first post isn't a replica, it's the real thing. That's a young Cole Palen flying it from Stormville, New York in the late 1950s before he started the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome. It had been part of the Roosevelt Field collection on Long Island, and apparently flown at one point by General Ben Kelsey. It is now on display at the US AF Museum (I know they don't call it that any more) in Dayton, Ohio.


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[Baldeagle]

Also, the other one noted as replica is a real SPAD VII, owned at the time by Tallmantz Aviation. It has quite a history:
https://www.key.aero/article/bleriots-g ... -compiegne


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[phil65]

Funny, I lost cable because of the hurricane that went up the East Coast, so I took out my Old Rhinebeck DVR last night.
Good stuff....

Phil

[Mark Allen M]

The real deals!!!

very cool, thx for the info.

[JohnB]

You see a lot (okay, a few...or several) WWI replicas (Sopwiths, Nieuports, Fokkers, Jennys, etc. in either full of sub-scale) out there, but seemingly no SPAD look alikes, despite their fame and famous pilots.

You'd think they could hide a modern engine (either air or liquid cooled) under the good sized cowl and behind the radiator that cooled the original's Hisso V-8.

[Cubs2jets]

I'm aware of (I've seen pictures) a SPAD XIII replica being built in the Charlotte, NC area. Sorry, I do not know the name of the owner or have any copies of the pictures he showed me. (No pics, doesn't exist? LOL!) The replica appeared to be full scale and construction was very much like original. The pictures I saw showed no fabric covering.

C2j

[Snake45]

As an old hot rodder, I can't see a SPAD's exhausts without imagining there's a small-block Chevy or maybe a Pontiac V8 in there.

[JohnB]

Snake45,
You're right, look at the spacing of the second and third exhausts, SBC for sure.

[K5DH]

It could also be a small-block Mopar V-8. But a SBC is the most likely candidate.

I've always like the looks of the SPAD biplanes.

[Richard W.]

Below photos of crashed Spad XIII S7921 of "balloon buster" Sous Lieutenant Jacques Louis Ehrlich

I see that by September 1918 no one felt like smiling, not even for a "trophy picture."

Poor guys look crushed.

[Baldeagle]

The guys in that photo are Germans, aren't they? That might explain the lack of smiles...

There have been several SPAD replicas built, and at least two flying currently. Carl Swanson built at least two, a VII that is now at the Old Rhinebeck Aerodrome, and a XIII that is at the Owls Head Transportation Museum in Maine, both with 180 Lycomings.

Owls Head SPAD in postwar dazzle scheme



Rhinebeck SPAD previous scheme



And current scheme


I have a few hours in the Rhinebeck SPAD, lousy flying airplane, but the CG is way too far aft. My friend at Owls Head says that theirs flies pretty well as WW1 types go.


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