Schoettler I
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Ernst Fuetterer
| Schoettler I | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Two seat biplane |
| National origin | China |
| Designer | Ferdinand Schoettler Ernst Fuetterer |
| History | |
| First flight | Summer 1923 |
The Schoettler I was one of the first aircraft constructed in China, albeit with a German designer. It was a two-seat, single engine biplane, first flown in mid-summer 1923.
The aircraft was designed by the German engineers Ferdinand Schoettler and Ernst Fuetterer and built at Longhua, Shanghai.[1] The only major components imported from Europe were the engine, instruments, wheels and dope for the fabric covering; everything else was locally produced from local materials by workers without aviation experience or modern machinery. Work on it began in the summer of 1922.
The Schoettler I was a conventional European style two seat tractor biplane, rather similar to the German Aviatik B.II and Albatros B.II designs, with equal span two bay wings. These were mounted with 2° of dihedral and 597 mm, almost 2 ft, of stagger. The gap between the upper and lower planes was 1,676 mm (66 in), maintained by parallel pairs of aerofoil section struts and wire bracing. The unswept wings had a constant chord of 1,600 mm (63 in) with blunt wing tips and ailerons on both upper and lower planes. The Schoettler's empennage was also conventional.
The fuselage was likewise a standard rectangular section wooden girder structure, fabric covered except around the engine and a wood upper decking around the open, tandem cockpits for pilot and for the observer, who sat under the wing trailing edge. It tapered to a knife-edge at the tail. At the front the 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes water-cooled upright inline engine was enclosed in a rectangular cross-section metal cowling which tapered vertically, exposing the upper cylinders, to a two blade propeller. At the rear of the housing an external radiator, with shutters for engine temperature control, projected on each side. The Schoettler had a conventional fixed undercarriage, with the mainwheels on a rigid axle mounted on V-struts.
The date of the first flight is unknown, but this was on or before 23 July 1923 when the Schoettler was test flown by ex-RAF pilot W. E. B. Holland. The latter reported good handling and an excellent, 360°, field of view for the observer noting the aircraft's potential for development.[2] More recent articles claim the first flight by a Chinese built aircraft was that of the indigenously-designed Xianyi Rosamonde (or Dashatou Rosamonde) on 12 July 1923, though without mention of the Schoettler;[3] the two aircraft were evidently close contemporaries.
