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Aviméta 88

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Aviméta 88
Role Two seat reconnaissance fighter
National origin France
Manufacturer Aviméta (Société pour la Construction d'Avions Métallique)
Designer George Lapère
First flight c.1927
Number built 1

The Aviméta 88 was an all-metal French two-seat reconnaissance-fighter or heavy fighter tested in 1927.

Design and development

[edit]
Aviméta 88 photo from L'Aéronautique August,1927

Aviméta, (Société pour la Construction d'Avions Métallique)‚ grew out of the Aeronautical Department of the Schneider-Creusot arms manufacturer.[1] Both the frame and the corrugated covering of the Aviméta 88 were made from Alferium, an aluminium-iron alloy developed by Schneiders.[1]

It was a parasol aircraft, with wings of constant chord and with slightly pointed, semi-elliptical tips. The thin-airfoil-section wings were built around two lattice girder spars and had a skin thickness of 300 μm. There was a large, trapezoidal cut-out in the trailing edge to improve the view from the cockpits. Its aileron hinges were set at a shallow angle to the trailing edge.[2]

The wings were braced to the fuselage with a parallel pair of struts from the lower longerons to the spars at about mid-span assisted by N-form, cross-braced jury struts at right angles. Four very short struts from the upper fuselage longerons to the wing centre section formed a low cabane.[2][3]

The square-section, rounded-cornered fuselage was built around these four longerons and a set of diagonally braced formers.[1] The Aviméta's 444 kW (595 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Hb water-cooled V-12 engine[4] was in a pointed nose, driving a two-blade propeller. There were two open cockpits, with the pilot forward at mid-chord and the gunner/observer behind in line with the trailing edge. Behind the cockpits the fuselage tapered rapidly in profile to a conventional empennage, with the tailplane mounted at mid-fuselage. Both horizontal and vertical surfaces were strongly tapered, particularly on the leading edges, with a broad tailplane and fin but with small, inset elevators and rudder.[1][2] The Aviméta 88 had independent bungee-sprung wheels on legs enclosed in tapered trouser fairings attached to the lower longerons at the bottom of the wing struts.[2][3]

The Aviméta 88 was on show at the December 1926 Paris Aero Salon.[1] It may not have flown by that date, and rather little is known about its later history, though it gave a "pretty impressive" display at Villacoublay in September 1927.[5] Development was terminated when the official call for a two-seat fighter-reconnaissance aircraft was rescinded.[4]

Specifications

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Aviméta 88 3-view drawing from L'Aéronautique December,1926

Data from Flight (2 December 1926)[1]

General characteristics

  • Crew: two
  • Length: 9.76 m (32 ft 0 in)
  • Wingspan: 17.00 m (55 ft 9 in)
  • Height: 3.55 m (11 ft 8 in)
  • Wing area: 40 m2 (430 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 1,550 kg (3,417 lb)
  • Gross weight: 2,400 kg (5,291 lb)
  • Fuel capacity: 310 kg (680 lb) (420 L (92 imp gal; 110 US gal)) in crash proof and in-flight jettisonable tank
  • Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 12Hb[4] water-cooled V-12, 444 kW (595 hp)
  • Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 240 km/h (150 mph, 130 kn) at sea level, 220 km/h (140 mph) at 5,000 m (16,000 ft)
  • Service ceiling: 7,500 m (24,600 ft)
  • Time to altitude: 16 min to 5,000 m (16,000 ft)

Armament

  • two fixed, synchronised 7.7 mm (0.303 in) Vickers machine guns firing through propeller disc[4] and two more mounted on the wing.
  • pair of Lewis guns[4] on flexible mounting in rear cockpit.

References

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  1. ^ a b c d e f "Avimeta". Flight. XVIII (48): 776. 2 December 1926.
  2. ^ a b c d "L'Aviméta AVM-88". L'Aéronautique. 8 (91): 402. December 1926.
  3. ^ a b "Avimeta". Flight. XVIII (50): 825–7. 16 December 1926.
  4. ^ a b c d e Green, William; Swanborough, Gordon (1994). The Complete Book of Fighters. Godalming, UK: Salamander Books. pp. 44–5. ISBN 1-85833-777-1.
  5. ^ "L'Aviation Francaise et l'American Legion". Les Ailes. 7 (328): 1. 29 September 1927.