Ducrot SLD

Ducrot SLD
Role	Fighter
National origin	Italy
Manufacturer	Ducrot
Designer	Ing Manlio Stiavelli and Guido Luzzatti
First flight	1918
Number built	1

The Ducrot SLD was an Italian fighter prototype built by Ducrot in 1918.

Design and development

During the latter half of World War I, Ing Manlio Stiavelli and Guido Luzzatti of the firm of Vittoria Ducrot at Palermo designed a high-performance fighter in an attempt to allow the company to progress from license production of flying boats designed elsewhere to producer of originally designed aircraft. Emphasizing aerodynamic cleanliness, they designed the SLD (for "Stiavelli-Luzzatti-Ducrot"), a single-seat biplane fighter powered by the 149-kilowatt (200-horsepower) Hispano-Suiza 35 engine driving a two-bladed propeller. It had a plywood monocoque fuselage of oval section. The undercarriage struts extended through the lower wing to carry the fuselage above the lower wing.^[1]

Operational history

Testing of the SLD began in October 1918, but its results have been lost. No production order from the Regia Aeronautica (Italian Royal Air Force) ensued, and only one prototype was built.^[2]

Operators

 Italy

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Wing area: 22.00 m² (236.8 ft²)
• Empty weight: 610 kg (1,345 lb)
• Gross weight: 810 kg (1,786 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Hispano-Suiza 35 piston, 149 kW (200 hp)

Performance

• Maximum speed: 300 km/h (186 mph)

Notes:

• Time to 5,000 m (16,405 ft): 10 min

Notes

1. ^ Green and Swanborough, p. 191.
2. ^ Green and Swanborough, pp. 191-192.

References

• Green, William, and Gordon Swanborough. The Complete Book of Fighters: An Illustrated Encyclopedia of Every Fighter Aircraft Built and Flown. New York: SMITHMARK Publishers, 1994. ISBN 0-8317-3939-8.