KEA Chelidon
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The Chelidon (Χελιδών, meaning 'Swallow' in Greek, also spelled in English as Helithon) was the first airplane developed by the Greek state KEA aircraft factory. Its development was completed in a virtually record time of 8 weeks, and first flight was made on February 11, 1927. According to some sources, a British engineer participated in the Greek design team, which developed the plane according to the Greek Navy specifications. It was a two-seater military biplane designed for advanced training and other roles including surveillance, requiring only basic maintenance facilities. It could also be transformed into a hydroplane. It used a Salmson 120hp engine (future variants were to use Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engine) and had a maximum speed of 150 km/h. It seems that only one was built, apparently due to lack of further funding.
[edit] References
- Jane's "All the World's Aircraft" (1928 edition)
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