Best Fighter Plane of WWI

by Jack

Because I love airplanes and always have, I occasionally must insert an airplane article in our site.  Mostly this is so I can keep from losing my mind writing about politics! This time I would like to introduce you to one of my all time favorite planes, the Spad XIII.

The SPAD S.XIII was a French biplane fighter aircraft of World War I, developed by Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés from the earlier highly successful SPAD S.VII. It was one of the most capable fighters of the war, and one of the most-produced, with 8,472 built and orders for around 10,000 more cancelled at the Armistice.

This was the first fighter to have an interrupter gear on the twin 303 cal. machine guns so they could fire through the rotating prop without hitting the blades.

Maximum speed: 135.46 mph
Range: 171 miles
Length: 20′ 6″
Wingspan: 27′ 1″
Passengers: 1

The Spad was introduced late into WWI, but it was an instant hit with French, English and American pilots. Great Britain produce about 4000 of them under special license. The Spad can be seen in person at the Chico Air Museum.