Roden 1/32 SPAD VII c.1 with Russian Skies | 617

  In early 1916 a competition was announced among French aircraft builders to design a fighter which would be able to counter the new German Fokker E.II Eindecker. One of the aircraft presented in the competition had an engine derived from the new V-shaped Hispano Suiza automobile engine developed by the Swiss engineer Marc Birkigt. The biplane box was borrowed from the SPAD A2, now freed from that aircraft's forward cabin. This plane was called the SPAD V, and it achieved quite good results in tests, its speed in particular reaching nearly 215 km/h, a very important mark at that time. After making some changes to the design and becoming the SPAD VIIc.1, the new fighter started arriving in the French Air Force in large numbers. The considerable durability of its design (in comparison with Nieuports) and its impressive rate of climb made it the favourite of the French aces. Apart from SPAD, the fighter went into series production under license in several French factories, including