The Starck AS-57 is a single engine low wing monoplane seating two in side-by-side configuration. It was designed and built in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

just after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

; only ten were produced, one of which was still active in 2012.

Design and development

Like the earlier Starck A.S. 70 Jac single seat light aircraft, the AS-57 was an all wooden machine. The two types were similar in layout, apart from the accommodation, though the AS-57 was larger all round. The wings were straight tapered in plan, with rounded tips. The earliest AS-57 had full span

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

control surfaces which could be lowered as flaps and operated differentially at the same time as ailerons, though one later specimen at least had ailerons outboard and separate flaps inboard.

Leading edge slot A leading-edge slot is a fixed aerodynamics, aerodynamic feature of the wing of some aircraft to reduce the Stall (flight), stall speed and promote good low-speed handling qualities. A leading-edge slot is a spanwise gap in each wing, allowing ai ...

s are fitted. The side-by-side configuration seating is enclosed under a bubble canopy which has transparent access panels. At the rear the canopy line drops to the upper

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

to improve the pilot's view aft. The fuselage tapers back to the tail unit, where the

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

is mounted just above the upper fuselage surface, braced from below with a pair of struts and placed well forward of the straight leading edge of the fin. The fin has a curved top which merges into a full, rounded

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

. The AS-57 has a fixed conventional undercarriage; some have had wheel fairings, others not. There is a small tailwheel. Various engines have been fitted; the one remaining active aircraft has a 78 kW (105 hp)

Walter Minor 4-III The Walter Minor is a family of four- and six-cylinder inverted inline air-cooled engines, developed under auspices of ing. Šimůnek and used on light aircraft. First produced in 1929, the Minor engines' family has an advanced design for the p ...

but another had a Regnier 67 kW (90 hp) 4E.0, both four cylinder, inverted, air-cooled inlines. The AS-57 flew for the first time on 4 April 1946.

Operational history

An AS-57 was on view at the 1949 Paris Salon. The general later verdict on the AS-57 was that its appearance was pleasing and its characteristics "honest", but its performance unexceptional. In 2010 only one AS-57, powered by a Walter Minor engine, remained on the French civil aircraft register. Another AS-57 is at the Musée Régional de l'Air at

Angers Angers (, , ;) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the Prefectures of France, prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Duchy of Anjou, Anjou until the French Revolution. The i ...

, viewable though not on public display.

Specifications (Walter Minor engine)

References

{{Starck aircraft 1940s French sport aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1946