SEA IV

The SEA IV was a French two-seat military aircraft of World War I and the immediate post-war era.

Development

The SEA IV was designed and built in 1917 by Henry Potez, Louis Coroller, and Marcel Bloch. It was a derivative of their previous SEA II design, equipped with a more powerful Lorraine engine of 261 kW (350 hp). It made its first flight during the first quarter of 1918, probably near Plessis-Belleville. It was initially tested by Gustave Douchy, a flying ace of 9 victories, then by the pilots of the Centre d'essais en Vol at Villacoublay. The "Ministère de l'Armement et des Fabrications de guerre" (Ministry of Armament and War Production) soon placed an order for 1,000 machines, making the SEA IV the first Dassault-designed aircraft to reach production.

Operational history

On August 24, 1918, General Duval, commander of Aéronavale at General Headquarters foresaw the need for two variants to equip the escadrilles at the beginning of 1919: the SEA IV A2 for observation and the SEA IV C2 for fighting. In October, General Headquarters ordered the commissioning of a flotilla to operate these aircraft, and therefore required production to reach 200 planes per month during the first quarter of 1919, to have a force of 400 on hand by April 1

The Armistice, however, meant that the initial order of 1,000 was cancelled, and in the end, only 115 examples were built. These C2s were used for a number of years by several escadrilles in the "Regiments d'Aviation" at Le Bourget.

A further 25 were built by Aéroplanes Henry Potez as the Potez VII, a luxury touring aircraft, and one further example formed the basis of a racing aircraft.

Operators

; FRA

pecifications (SEA IV C2)

aircraft specifications
plane or copter?= plane
jet or prop?= prop
ref=
crew= Two, pilot and observer
capacity=
length main= 8.50 m
length alt= 27 ft 11 in
span main= 12.00 m
span alt= 39 ft 4 in
height main= 3.10 m
height alt= 10 ft 2 in
area main= 37.5 m²
area alt= 403 ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main= 1,015 kg
empty weight alt= 2,233 lb
loaded weight main=
loaded weight alt=
useful load main=
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main= 1,620 kg
max takeoff weight alt= 3,564 lb
more general=

engine (prop)=Lorraine-Dietrich 12Da 10
type of prop=
number of props=1
power main= 261 kW
power alt= 350 hp
power original=

max speed main= 218 km/h
max speed alt= 118 knots, 136 mph
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
range main= 700 km
range alt= 378 nm, 437 miles
ceiling main= 7,400 m
ceiling alt= 24,272 ft
climb rate main=
climb rate alt=
loading main=
loading alt=
thrust/weight=
power/mass main=
power/mass alt=
more performance=
armament=
* 1 × forward firing .303 Vickers machine gun
* 2 × .303 Lewis guns in a flexible mount for the observer
avionics=

References

* [http://www.dassault-aviation.com Dassault official home page]

ee also

aircontent
related=
SEA I -
SEA II
similar aircraft=

sequence=
SEA I -
SEA II -
SEA III -SEA IV
lists=
* List of military aircraft of France
* List of fighter aircraft

see also= wwi-air