BFP Episode 1: the Stampe & Vertongen SV.10

Video from the channel Belgium's Flying Past about Stampe et Vertongen, linked on its Above Ten Thousand entry. Duration: 5:31. Language: English. Video type: Documentary.

The story of the Stampe et Vertongen SV.10, a Belgian heavy fighter-bomber prototype from the 1930s, and the accident that ended it.

In 1934 the Belgian Government requested an "air cruiser" for the Aéronautique Militaire: a twin-engine aircraft to serve as both heavy fighter and bomber, using the wheels of the Fokker F.VII, of which there were many in reserve. LACAB entered with the GR.8, and so did Stampe et Vertongen. Jean Stampe commissioned the design from Georges Ivanov, an engineer born in Odessa in 1908 and the designer of the SV.4 and the SV.5 Tornado trainer.

The SV.10 was a wood-and-fabric biplane with a steel structure and faired fixed landing gear. It was powered by two Gnome-Rhône 14K radial engines of 780 hp, giving it a top speed of 350 km/h. It was 11 m long with an 18 m wingspan on the upper wing. It carried four 7.62 mm FN Browning machine guns and 600 kg of bombs. It left the Deurne factory on 1 October 1935 with the military serial S25 and flew that same day. It was flown by Léon Stampe, Jean's son, with Ivanov as flight engineer. On a later flight it entered a spin after a turn at 300 m altitude and crashed, killing both men. The cause was never established and the project was cancelled.