Flight, December 1926

The Paris Aero Show 1926

SALMSON-BECHEREAU (S.R.A.P.)

   THE S.R.A.P. (Societe pour la Realisation d’Avions Prototypes) is a new firm with offices in Paris, which has secured the technical services of M. Bechereau, the well-known onetime designer of the Deperdussin and Spad aeroplanes.
   The S.R.A.P. will exhibit a Salmson-Bechereau C.2 two-seater fighter (500 h.p. Salmson C.18), the fuselage of a Bechereau mail aeroplane, a Bechereau shock-absorbing system for Goliath aeroplanes, and a patented joy-stick.

   The Salmson-Bechereau C.2 Two-Seater Fighter.- The Salmson-Bechereau Two-seater fighter is a strut-braced monoplane, having two outer wing struts, which are fixed to the undercarriage and an intermediate Warren truss. The construction is of conventional lines, consisting essentially of a wire-braced timber framework. The wing struts are faired steel tubes. The wing is covered with fabric except at the leading edge, where multi-ply is used to give added strength. The fuselage is built up on four main longerons and plywood formers, over which a false work of spruce stringers is fixed to give the fuselage a good streamline. The engine compartment as well as the pilot's cockpit are covered with sheet aluminium; the rest of the fuselage as well as the tail unit are fabric-covered.
   The under-carriage struts are plywood frames of V type.
   Specification.- Engine, 500 h.p. Salmson C.18; span, 14-60 m.; length, 10 m.; height, 3 m.; wing area, 35 sq. m.; weight empty, 1,558 kg.; fuel load, 292 kg.; crew (two), 160 kg.; armament and equipment, 350 kg. weight loaded, 2,360 kg.

Official Performances (S.T.Ae. Tests)
   Altitude: 3,000 4,000 5,000 6.000 6,700
   Speed, km. p.h. 220 215 209 200
   Climb, mins. 9' 13'51" 20'12" 31'40" 47'38"
   Ceiling, 7.150 m.
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   FROM the side view of the Salmson-Bechereau C.2, published in our issue of December 2, it was difficult to realise the complication of the strutting which a closer inspection of this machine at the show revealed. .M. Bechereau, it may be recollected, is an old hand at designing aeroplanes, having been responsible for the design of the Deperdussin monoplanes in the very early days of aviation, and during the war of the early Spads. With an experience like that behind him, one is justified in expecting from a designer a really fine piece of work, but frankly the machine exhibited on this stand could scarcely be so described as regards its design. One of our sketches this week shows the general scheme of the wing bracing, and it will be seen that this is of such a nature that there must be a good deal more strut area offering resistance than need be incorporated in a biplane with orthodox bracing. Unless the demand is, for some service reason not entirely obvious, a parasol monoplane at all costs, it is difficult to guess what was in the designer's mind. The fuselage is of excellent streamline form, and that the machine must be aerodynamically efficient in spite of its excessive amount of strutting, seems obvious from the official performance figures published in our December 2 issue, according to which the speed at 10,000 ft. is 220 km./hr. (136-6 m.p.h.). One cannot help thinking that with the same fuselage neatly put into a biplane structure an even better performance would have been obtained.
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