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The Loring R-1 or R-I was a
reconnaissance aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using Aerial photography, photography), signals ...
and
light bomber
A light bomber is a relatively small and fast type of military bomber aircraft that was primarily employed before the 1950s. Such aircraft would typically not carry more than one ton of ordnance.
The earliest light bombers were intended to dr ...
produced in Spain in the late 1920s.
[Taylor 1989, p.613][''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' p.2380] It was the first design by
Eduardo Barron for
Jorge Loring's company —
Talleres Loring
Talleres Loring (Loring Workshops) was a Spanish aeronautical company founded by engineer and entrepreneur Jorge Loring after moving to Madrid.
History
A predecessor company, Loring Pujol y Cia, had been founded in Barcelona by Jorge Loring ...
, and the firm's first aircraft of its own design.
Design and development
Conventional for its day, it was a
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
with staggered wings that were braced with struts in a
Warren truss
In structural engineering, a Warren truss or equilateral truss is a type of truss employing a weight-saving design based upon Triangle, equilateral triangles. It is named after the British engineer James Warren (engineer), James Warren, who pat ...
-like configuration. The pilot and observer sat in open cockpits in tandem and the main units of the fixed, tailskid undercarriage were divided.
The design of the Loring R-I was inspired by the
Fokker C.V
The Fokker C.V was a Dutch light reconnaissance and bomber biplane aircraft manufactured by Fokker. It was designed by Anthony Fokker and the series manufacture began in 1924 at Fokker in Amsterdam.
Development
The C.V was constructed in the ear ...
. , and saw service in
Morocco
Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...
during the last stages of the
Rif War
The Rif War (, , ) was an armed conflict fought from 1921 to 1926 between Spain (joined by France in 1924) and the Berber tribes of the mountainous Rif region of northern Morocco.
Led by Abd el-Krim, the Riffians at first inflicted several ...
from July 1926 until March 1927.
Thirty examples were produced for the ''
Aeronáutica Militar'' of the
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army () is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest Standing army, active armies – dating back to the late 15th century.
The Spanish Army has existed ...
. They remained in service until December 1931 when they were phased out during the military restructuring promoted by
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz (; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of Spain, Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the la ...
, the newly nominated
Minister of War
A ministry of defence or defense (see American and British English spelling differences#-ce.2C -se, spelling differences), also known as a department of defence or defense, is the part of a government responsible for matters of defence and Mi ...
of the
republican government
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy or electoral democracy, is a types of democracy, type of democracy where elected delegates Representation (politics), represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearl ...
. Azaña's aim was to modernize the Spanish Military and cut down the expenses of the state in the aftermath of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
.
[Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, ''Cambio de Rumbo'', Ed. Ikusager, Vitoria 2001, pg. 273]
Variants
;R-1
:First prototype aircraft that later went into production.
;R-2 (R-II)
:A refined version able to take heavier load than the R-I that was designed around 1925 before production shifted to the
Loring R-3.
Operators
; (Kingdom)
*''
Aeronáutica Militar''
; (Republic)
*''
Aeronáutica Militar''
Specifications
See also
References
*
*
{{Eduardo Barrón aircraft
1920s Spanish military reconnaissance aircraft
Loring aircraft
Light bombers
Biplanes