SPAD for two

Confident World War I fighter pilots leveraged the fast single-seat French SPAD XIII and earlier SPAD VII into ace-making warplanes that went toe-to-toe with the best that their German foes could muster.

When the SPAD organization (Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés) attempted to capitalize on the success of these fighters with a two-seat derivative, disappointing performance and maneuverability failed to justify its use as a fighter. Instead, the two-seat versions earned a niche in the war as bomber and reconnaissance aircraft.

If the successful single-seat fighter looked like a stubby brick with wings, the two-seater incorporated some aeronautical flourishes that, in the eye of some observers, made for a more aesthetic appearance.

The two-seat SPAD XI and XVI variants shared the same larger airframe design, but mounted different engines. With a second seat aft, wing sweep and positive stagger were introduced to influence balance on the SPAD XI and XVI models.

Invoking the standard caveat that sources for specifications on aircraft — especially century-old aircraft — are notoriously variable, the following table gives a general comparison between the SPAD XIII fighter and the larger SPAD XVI bomber and recon biplane:

SPAD XIII and XVI Specifications

The SPAD XVI, with its increased horsepower, still had more weight and less speed to contend with than the single-seat fighter version.

Historians tend to dismiss the two-seat SPADs because of lackluster performance. Nonetheless, in the urgent need to equip Allied forces in France, about 1,000 SPAD XVIs were built, with the first one arriving in January 1918.

They featured one fixed forward-firing Vickers .30-caliber machine gun operated by the pilot and either one or two .30-caliber Lewis machine guns mounted to a rear cockpit ring for flexible fire by the gunner/observer. Just over 150 pounds of bombs could be slung beneath the lower wing.

The SPAD XVI would likely receive little notice in the U.S. today were it not for the surviving example in the National Air and Space Museum.

In 1918, Col. Billy Mitchell flew this SPAD XVI, one of six purchased from the French that August, over the front lines in France. He and his observer/gunner made valuable reconnaissance observations of German troop movements, including during the battle of St. Mihiel in September 1918.

This SPAD XVI was Mitchell’s personal aircraft during the war. It is easy to imagine Billy Mitchell, ever the airpower proponent, using his wartime experiences in this SPAD high over French battlefields to inform his post-war beliefs on the value of military aviation.

With victory, Mitchell’s SPAD XVI was one of many aircraft brought back to the United States. Mitchell would use newer American-built aircraft after the war, and his two-seat SPAD XVI was transferred from the War Department to the Smithsonian Institution in 1920.

Its long service as a museum piece included a stint on loan to the National Museum of the United States Air Force in Dayton, Ohio.

The SPAD XVI is now displayed in the Smithsonian’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center in Chantilly, Virginia.