Stampe SV-4 SV-4C

The French version of the Stampe stems from the interest the aircraft aroused in 1939: according to aeroVFR, a delegation of three pilots evaluated the biplane and the French state ordered 600 aircraft with the 140 hp Renault 4P, 400 for training and 200 for artillery spotting, with the licence assigned to Farman in November 1939 and a first batch planned for 1940. The war delayed everything: the first SV-4C did not fly until January 1946, with a 140 hp Renault 4Pei (avionslegendaires says 145 hp). According to aviationsmilitaires.net, France asked for permission to build it under licence, granted to the Atelier Industriel de l'Air in Algiers and to Farman, but it was finally SNCAN (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord) that built it in the latter's place. From Sartrouville, on the outskirts of Paris, came 701 aircraft numbered 1 to 701 up to 1948 (700 according to aeroVFR; 856 according to the French Wikipedia article on the SV-4b), and the AIA at Maison Blanche, Algiers, produced 150 more numbered 1001 to 1150 between 1947 and 1950 (155 according to the Amicale du Bourget). Besides the 4Pei, Renault 4P, 4P03 and 4P106 engines were fitted, and the Dutch Wikipedia credits the SV-4C with an enclosed cockpit.

The post-war SV-4Cs were the primary trainer of the French Air Force (243 aircraft according to aviationsmilitaires.net), of the Aéronavale — squadrons 50S and 51S at Lanvéoc and Khouribga — and of the Army light aviation (30); they served at the national centres, such as Saint-Yan, and with the Patrouille d'Étampes from 1947 to 1953, then passed to the flying clubs, from which many were sold on to Britain and other countries. The Rothmans Aerobatic Team flew SV-4Cs from 1970 to 1973 and two appear in the film High Road to China portraying First World War aircraft. The example at the Musée de l'Air at Le Bourget is SV-4C no. 149 (F-BBQL), which left the factory in 1946 and was assigned to the Saint-Yan national centre from 28 November that year until 14 March 1955.

The Amicale du Bourget publishes the figures for the aerobatic SV-4C (the one with the extra fuel pump for inverted flight): span 8.385 m, length 6.810 m, height 2.850 m, 502 kg empty, 750 kg loaded, a top speed of 198 km/h, cruise 170 km/h (which its author judges optimistic), stall 65 km/h, a 5,000 m ceiling and a 500 km still-air range; the Renault Bengali 4P delivers 140 hp at 2,400 rpm. Aviationsmilitaires.net and the Dutch Wikipedia give a 19 m² wing area and 780 kg at take-off.