THE SPAD A FAMOUS MACHINE
Originator of French Biplane Made Fortune as a Swindler
The most successful fighting airplane in the world today is without question the Spad. It was, of course, the mount of the late Captain Guynemer, who, it will be remembered, accounted for fifty-three machines before being shot down last September just behind the German front line. The most proficient pilots in the Lafayette Escadrille also use this machine.
The history of the Spad is curious. It owes its origins to Armand Deperdussin, a former silk merchant of Lyons, who amassed a large fortune by a series of swindling operations. In 1910 he proceeded to sink most of his gains into aviation establishing a huge flying field and factory near Rheims and engaging a brilliant young engineer named Bechereau. The result was that the Deperdussin monoplanes acquired an international fame, winning the Gordon Bennett cup at Chicago in 1912 and at Rheims in 1913—the latter event at the rate of 124.5 miles an hour. This speed was made possible largely by the monocoque construction of the fuselage, greatly superior then in vogue on other machines.
After the arrest of Deperdussin some time before the war the directors of the firm retained Bechereau as designer and changed the name to Spad (Societe pour Aeroplanes Deperdussin). This was again changed quite recently to "Societe pour l'Aviation et ses Derives," keeping the same initials as before. Deperdussin's trial finally took place a few months back, and a merely nominal sentence was imposed on account of the great services to the cause of French aviation rendered by the defendant.defendant.—John Jay Ide in the Scientific American.
The La Crosse Tribune And Leader-Press (La Crosse, Wisconsin) - Thursday, June 20, 1918
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