| Dewoitine D.48 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Side-by-side sport andtraining aircraft Type of aircraft |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Constructions Aéronautiques Émile Dewoitine |
| First flight | 1932 |
| Number built | 2 |
TheDewoitine D.480 was a French single engineside-by-side sports andtraining aircraft built in the early 1930s. Two were completed and flew with several differentradial engines. One remained active through the 1950s.
The D.480 was designed to a government programme for a side-by-side trainer forflying schools. It was of mixed construction, with a wooden wing and metalfuselage. Its one-piececantileverlow wing wastrapezoidal out toelliptical tips, tapered strongly in thickness from root to tip and had significantdihedral. The wing was built around a singlespruce andplywoodspar and entirely ply skinned. Highaspect ratioailerons filled over half thetrailing edges, with ground-adjustable trimmingflaps near the roots.[1][2]
The metal-skinned fuselage was based on fourlongerons, giving it a slightly rounded square cross-section. It was always intended that the D.48 series should be able to accommodate a variety of radial engines in the 67–112 kW (90–150 hp) range and the first prototype, type D.480, had a 71 kW (95 hp)Salmson 7Ac seven cylinder engine in the nose, enclosed in acowling which exposed its cylinder heads for cooling.[1] A second example, designated D.481, was built at the same time as the first and was identical apart from its 75 kW (100 hp)Lorraine 5Pa radial, similarly cowled.[3] Pilot and pupil sat side by side with dual controls in an opencockpit close to the wingleading edge. Behind them the fuselage tapered to a convention tail. The horizontal tail was roughly elliptical in plan and mounted on top of the fuselage, far enough forward to need only a small space between theelevators forrudder movement. Its deep, full rudder was hinged on a blunted triangularfin.[1]
The D.480 had afixed, conventional undercarriage with a track of 2.80 m (9 ft 2 in). Each mainwheel was mounted on a stub axle at the vertex of a V-strut hinged on the lower fuselage longeron, with a near-vertical sprung leg, with anoleo strutshock absorber, to the wing spar. The tailwheel was on a long, hinged leg close to the rear fuselage with a short, vertical shock absorber.[1]
Both examples had official pre-flight structural checks made in January 1932;[4] the D.481 at least flew that same month.[3] They were registered asF-AKFF andF-AKFG. One of the pair was displayed at the December 1932Paris Aero Salon after receiving a 101 kW (135 hp)Salmson 9NC nine-cylinder radial, housed under a long-chord,NACA-stylecowling.[5][6] The type number of this variant is not known for certain but recreated French civil aircraft registers show that both spent part of the lives as D.482s.[7]
The register also indicates that one flew for a time as a military aircraft;[8] Dewoitine had argued that it would make a good introductorytrainer.[1] It returned to the civil register asF-AQMO in May 1938, operated by an aero club nearToulouse.[8] It survivedWorld War II and in the 1950s, its engine uncowled, carried advertising material for a biscuit manufacturer.[9]
F-AKFG eventually became a type D.483,[7] though little is known about this variant.
Data from Les Ailes June 1932[1]
General characteristics
Performance