Letov Š-7
| Letov Š-7 | |
|---|---|
| |
| Role | Single-seat fighter |
| National origin | Czechoslovakia |
| Manufacturer | Letov Kbely |
| Designer | Alois Šmolik |
| First flight | 1923 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Letov Š-7 was a single-seat, single-engine biplane fighter aircraft designed and built in Czechoslovakia in the early 1920s. It was designed for a single-seat fighter competition but did not reach production.
Design and development
The Letov Š-7 was designed for a 1923 government competition for a single-engine fighter, to be powered by a Škoda licence-built
cabane formed, on each side, by a forward parallel pair of struts from the mid-fuselage and a rear inverted-V pair from the upper fuselage. Only the lower planes carried ailerons.[1]
Letov experienced some cooling problems with the Š-7's water-cooled engine. The aircraft as first flown had a ring-shaped
conventional undercarriage, with mainwheels on cross-braced V-struts. It was armed with a pair of 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns, mounted in a dip in the engine cowling between the two cylinder banks, firing through the propeller arc.[1]
The Letov Š-7 first flew in 1923 but failed to gain orders and its development was discontinued.[1]
Variants
- Letov Š-7
- Original ring-shaped radiator.
- Letov Š-7a
- Ventral radiator and modified cowling.
Specifications
Data from Green and Swanborough p.333[1]
General characteristics
- Crew: one
- Length: 6.97 m (22 ft 10 in)
- Wingspan: 9.30 m (30 ft 6 in)
- Height: 2.65 m (8 ft 8 in)
- Wing area: 22.15 m2 (238.4 sq ft)
- Empty weight: 763 kg (1,682 lb)
- Gross weight: 1,050 kg (2,315 lb)
- Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 8Fb V8water-cooled, 220 kW (300 hp)
- Propellers: 2-bladed
Performance
- Maximum speed: 255 km/h (158 mph, 138 kn)
- Time to altitude: 1.5 min to 1,000 m (3,050 ft)
Armament
- Guns: 2 × 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine guns
References
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Letov Š-7.
- ^ ISBN 1-85833-777-1.