The SABCA S.11 or SABCA S.XI was a prototype

Belgian Belgian may refer to: * Something of, or related to, Belgium * Belgians, people from Belgium or of Belgian descent * Languages of Belgium, languages spoken in Belgium, such as Dutch, French, and German *Ancient Belgian language, an extinct language ...

airliner An airliner is a type of aircraft for transporting passengers and air cargo. Such aircraft are most often operated by airlines. Although the definition of an airliner can vary from country to country, an airliner is typically defined as an ...

of the 1930s. It was a three-engined high-winged monoplane intended for service in the

Belgian Congo The Belgian Congo (french: Congo belge, ; nl, Belgisch-Congo) was a Belgian colony in Central Africa from 1908 until independence in 1960. The former colony adopted its present name, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), in 1964. Colo ...

, but only a single example was built.

Design and development

In 1926, the Belgian government issued a specification for an all-metal

trimotor A trimotor is an aircraft powered by three engines and represents a compromise between complexity and safety and was often a result of the limited power of the engines available to the designer. Many trimotors were designed and built in the 1920s ...

airliner to replace the wooden

Handley Page W.8 The Handley Page W.8, W.9 and W.10 were British two- and three-engine medium-range biplane airliners designed and built by Handley Page. The W.8 (also known as the H.P.18) was the company's first purpose-built civil airliner although 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 ...

s used by Belgian airline

SABENA The ''Societé anonyme belge d'Exploitation de la Navigation aérienne'' (French; ), better known by the acronym Sabena or SABENA, was the national airline of Belgium from 1923 to 2001, with its base at Brussels National Airport. After its b ...

in the

. To meet this requirement, Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques (SABCA) offered a high-winged monoplane, the S.XI, designed by Henri Jullien, its chief engineer, which was intended to fly in 1928. The S.XI had a

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

constructed of welded-steel tubing, covered by fabric. The crew of three (two pilots and a navigator) were accommodated in an enclosed cockpit ahead of the wing, while the aircraft's cabin had seats for up to 20 passengers. The wings had steel

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

with

Duralumin Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age-hardenable aluminium alloys. The term is a combination of ''Dürener'' and ''aluminium''. Its use as a tra ...

ribs The rib cage, as an enclosure that comprises the ribs, vertebral column and sternum in the thorax of most vertebrates, protects vital organs such as the heart, lungs and great vessels. The sternum, together known as the thoracic cage, is a semi ...

and covering, and were braced by steel struts. The aircraft's tail assembly was made of Duralumin. It was powered by three

Bristol Jupiter The Bristol Jupiter was a British nine-cylinder single-row piston radial engine built by the Bristol Aeroplane Company. Originally designed late in World War I and known as the Cosmos Jupiter, a lengthy series of upgrades and developments tur ...

radial engines, rated at each, with one mounted in the nose and the other two on the leading edge of the wing, each driving two-bladed propellers. The aircraft had a fixed

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Ter ...

. Although it was expected to be completed in 1928, the prototype was not ready until 1931, making its first flight on 12 August 1931. As a result of testing, the aircraft was fitted with a lengthened rear fuselage with a modified tail of similar design to that used by the SABCA S.12. The type was soon abandoned, with no production following.

Specifications

References

External links

Photo
{{SABCA aircraft 1930s Belgian airliners SABCA aircraft Trimotors High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1931