Stampe & Vertongen SV.4
The Stampe & Vertongen SV.4 is a Belgian two-seat trainer-tourer biplane designed and built by Stampe et Vertongen. The aircraft was also built under licence in France and Algeria.
The SV.4 was designed as a biplane tourer-training aircraft in the early 1930s by Stampe & Vertongen at Antwerp. The first model was the SV.4A an advanced aerobatic trainer that flew for the first time in 1933.
This model was followed by the SV.4B with redesigned wings and the 130 hp (or 97 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major.
Only 35 aircraft were built before the company was closed during the Second World War. After the war the successor company Stampe & Renard built a further 65 as trainers for the Belgian Air Force that remained the primary user of this machine. In the Belgian Air Force, the SV.4 was introduced in 1947 and retired in 1975.
A licenced SV.4C version was built in France by SNCAN and in Algeria by Atelier Industriel de l'Aéronautique d'Alger building a combined total of 940 aircraft.
Variants
- SV.4 : The prototype.
- SV.4A : Aerobatic trainer with 140 hp (or 104 kW) Renault 4-PO5 engine.
- SV.4B : Improved version with 130 hp (or 97 kW) de Havilland Gipsy Major I. Post-war trainers for the BAF were fitted with more powerful Cirrus Major or Gipsy Major X.
- SV.4C : Licence built version with 140hp (or 104 kW) Renault 4-Pei engine.
- SV.4D : One aircraft re-engined with 175 hp (or 130 kW) Mathis engine.
A few SV.4s have been fitted with other engines, such as the Lycoming O-320, Ranger 6 or LOM 332b. At least one aircraft fitted with a Lycoming engine (OO-KAT) has been referred to by its owners as an SV.4E.
Military Operators
- Belgian Air Force and belgian Congo.
- French Air Force.
- Royal Air Force : One aircraft "liberated" by Belgian pilots in 1941 and flown across the Channel.
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