Corona Build 2 (The worst plane ever?)

This is the SPAD S.A.2. It definitely qualifies for inclusion on any list of the worst aircraft ever built, given that even when it was obvious that it was a bad idea, it was still ordered into production. It was very unpopular, especially with the poor gunners obliged to sit in the 'pulpit', that strange capsule placed in front of the propeller. Remember, it was a time in which planes were flimsy and flown from grass airfields; it wasn't unusual to go nose over on landing. With this design, the heavy mass of the spinning rotary engine and propeller was inevitably going to go into the crewman who would have no escape.

So, how did the SPAD S.A.2 ever come into being? The answer is that it was a solution to a problem. Aeroplanes were used for observation when the war started, and soon afterwards aviators on both sides decided that they wanted to shoot down the enemy planes being used to observe them. Using rifles was futile, so machine guns were fitted to the second crewman's position. But to more visionary airmen, the real answer was to find a way to fire directly forwards, which was difficult when most planes had an engine and propeller placed in front. Until someone perfected a synchronisation mechanism which would allow the bullets to pass between the propeller blades - what to do?

• Well, you could put the engine and propeller behind the crew positions. These types were known as pushers and were widely used for a while. Their disadvantage was that they were inevitably slow and clumsy.
• You could put deflectors on the propeller blades; most of the bullets would still go straight ahead. Roland Garros famously did this and had brief but spectacular success. However, this technique was very bad for the wooden propeller which would tend to shake apart.
• You could fix a machine gun to the upper wing in such a way that it fired over the arc of the propeller. This was the best solution until a reliable synchronisation gear was devised, and it was very successfully implemented by eg. the Nieuport 11. It wasn't ideal, because guns often jammed, and then the pilot would have difficulty clearing it.
• Or you could build a plane like the SPAD S.A.2. Just over 100 were built. It was operated for a short period, and hated, by the French, and for longer by the Russians, who were short of planes. The British also built a similar type, the B.E.9, and tested it at the Front, but sensibly did not put it into production.

All sides were working on synchronisation gear. As you can imagine, it was a very tricky thing to make them work reliably. It was the slowness of progress on the French side which provoked Roland Garros into his temporary fix using deflector blades. He and his plane were captured, and Anthony Fokker is supposed to have examined the aircraft and been inspired to design the first proper fighter plane, the Fokker E I monoplane of 1915. The truth is that the Germans were already nearly there with the mechanism, so things quickly fell into place for Fokker, who adapted an existing design. The 'Fokker Scourge' followed, and the Allies eventually designed and fitted their own synchronisation gear to new fighters.

I'm putting this model into a cabinet on a shelf featuring all those early methods for firing forward. It's not a great kit, being short run with lots of flash and badly moulded parts. But it was hard to find any kit available for this particular type, in any scale. I'm actually pleased simply to have completed it! I freely admit that I've photographed it carefully, to hide as much as possible the drooping right wing and other unhappy bodges. There's one thing missing, characteristic of the type, which wasn't provided with the kit and which I couldn't have convincingly made myself, and that's the wire screen which was fitted just behind the gunner to protect him from the whirling propeller blades. I'm doubtful that it ever made him feel much safer!

A final note, oddly amusing. The designer of the SPAD S.A.2, Louis Béchereau, was less than delighted about being required to produce it. The funny thing is that if you remove the pulpit and the rotary engine, and look at the rest of the airframe, what you have is the basis for one of the most formidable planes of WWI, the SPAD 13. A very different aircraft once given a powerful engine and twin machine guns, firing forward thanks to synchronisation gear. The SPAD 13 was used by all the Allies, very successfully, and was equal to the best that the Germans could offer. And its roots can be seen in the awful SPAD S.A.2.