SWORD S.XIII
Role Fighter Aircraft
SPAD constructor
Date of first volume 4 April 1917
Date of commissioning end of May 1917
Built name 8472
Crew 1
Engine
Hispano-Suiza 8B-V8-online motor engine
Name 1
Type nc
Unit power output 220 hp (164 kW)
Dimensions
Width 8.10 m
Length 6.30 m
Height 2.35 m
Area area 21.1 m2
Mass
At vacuum 566 kg
Maximum 845 kg
Performances
Top speed 234 km/h
(Mach 0.19)
Ceiling 6,650 m
Ascending speed 120 m/min
Armament
Internal Two synchronized Vickers machine guns Cal. 7.7 mm
The SPAD S.XIII was a World War I French single-seat fighter biplane designed by Louis Béchereau and manufactured by the SPAD company.
The SPAD S.XIII was an upgraded version of the SPAD S.VII, which made their exterior look very similar. This aircraft benefited from several improvements over its predecessor, such as for example a slightly increased wingspan or even a more powerful engine. This led to sensibly improve its flight characteristics, which were already excellent for the SPAD S.VII. Furthermore the S.XIII was endowed with a second machine gun, which in fit a formidable hunter.
After its first flight, on 4 April 1917, orders from various air forces began to trickle down and as early as late May 1917 the first S.XIIIs were operational on the front where they were rapidly replacing S.VIIs and Nieuport fighters.
The S.XIII did prove outstanding operational qualities, which fit mounted the number of copies ordered to around 10,000, but many of these orders were canceled at the end of the conflict. In total 8,472 devices of this type furent all the same built and used, alongside the French Air Force, by the air forces of Belgium, Italy, Great Britain and the The United States. After the war, a good number of devices were still exported to Belgium, Japan, Poland and Czechoslovakia.
The SPAD S.XVII was a variant of the S.XIII intended for air reconnaissance.
The development project of its successor, the SPAD S.XXI, was abandoned at the end of the war.