Bartel BM-6

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Bartel BM-6
Type Trainer aircraft
Manufacturer Samolot
Maiden flight 8 April 1930
Status Prototype
Primary user Polish Air Force
Number built 1

The Bartel BM-6 was a Polish biplane trainer fighter aircraft of 1930. It did not advance beyond the prototype stage.

Contents

[edit] Design and development

The aircraft was designed by Ryszard Bartel in the Samolot factory in Poznań, as a trainer-fighter plane. The BM-6 prototype, designated BM-6a, was flown on 8 April 1930 in Poznań. Its advantage was an easy construction and maintenance, according to Bartel's design philosophy. A distinguishing feature of all Bartels was an upper wing of a shorter span, because lower and upper wing halves were interchangeable (i.e. the lower wingspan included the fuselage width). It first introduced a mixed construction to Bartel's designs.

After trials, the prototype was modified in July 1930. The prototype was later redesignated BM.6a/II afther it was substantially modified. It offered quite good flight characteristics and was capable of aerobatic flight. It was demonstrated in a fighter-plane competition in Bucharest in 1930, along with the similar PZL P.1.

The second prototype BM-6b, with a Wright Whirlwind 220 hp radial engine, was ordered, but work upon it ceased with closure of the Samolot factory in mid-1930. The PWS works, which inherited many of Samolot's projects, did not continue the project, for it had its own similar design, the PWS-11.

[edit] Operational history

After state trials in 1931, the prototype was used in an advanced training school in Grudziądz, then in an aviation training center in Dęblin.

[edit] Operators

Flag of Poland Poland

[edit] Specifications (BM-6a)

[edit] Description

Mixed construction biplane. Steel framed fuselage, rectangular in cross-section, canvas covered (engine and upper sections - aluminum covered). Rectangular two-spar wings with rounded ends, plywood and canvas covered. Upper wing span: 7.36 m, lower wing span: 8.10 m. Lower and upper wing halves were interchangeable. Single pilot, sitting in open cockpit, with a windshield. The V8 engine Hispano-Suiza 8Be was modified to lower power output (from 220 hp to 180 hp). Radiator below the fuselage. Fixed landing gear, with a rear skid. Two-blade wooden propeller of fixed pitch. Fuel tank in fuselage: 168 l capacity.

General characteristics

  • Crew: 1
  • Length: 6.30 m ()
  • Wingspan: 8.10 m ()
  • Height: 2.76 m ()
  • Wing area: 17.6 m² ()
  • Empty weight: 697 kg ()
  • Loaded weight: 985 kg ()
  • Useful load: 288 kg ()
  • Powerplant:Hispano-Suiza 8Be (modified) V8 engine, water-cooled, 180 hp ()

Performance

Armament

  • One 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun in a fuselage, with a synchronizing gear

[edit] References

  • Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939" (Polish aviation constructions 1893-1939), WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977 (Polish language, no ISBN)

[edit] External links

[edit] See also

Comparable aircraft