- Yes
- No
Renard R.37
The Renard R.37 is the second variant of the belgian Renard fighters family (the first one being, you guessed it, the R.36).
The main difference between the R.36 and R.37 are the engine and armament, the R.37 featured a more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14N21 but had to drop the engine-mounted cannon.
Only one was built because a more potent fighter was being developed, the R.38, along with concerns over the insufficient engine cooling and shortages of the Gnome-Rhône engine.
Specifications
Engine: Gnome-Rhône 14N21 (1050hp)
Wingspan: 11.64m
Length: 8.4m
Height: 2.9m
Wing area: 20m²
Empty weight: 1810kg
Loaded weight: 2460kg
Max speed: 527km/h at 5000m
Armament: 4 × 7.7mm FN-Browning machine guns or 2 × 13.2mm FN-Browning machine guns
Payload: 8 × 10kg bombs* + 1 grenade launcher with 30 grenades (yes, grenades)
Climb rate: 17.5m/s
Service ceiling: 11500m
Range: 1000km
*It was planned to equip the plane with a 200kg torpedo for coastal defence, but very little is known about said torpedo.
Due to its low weight, very low stall speed, decently-sized wings and good engine, i would expect this machine to be as maneuverable as a Spitfire if not better!
That also means that there is no armor on the plane, and the fuel tanks are not self-sealing, so its playstyle should be very similar to the nimble japanese fighters.
There is also a point i would make, and that is that the difference in power between the 7.7mm and 13.2mm machine guns is too great to have it be a simple modification, so i would suggest splitting the plane in two models; one with the 7.7mm machine guns, and another with the 13.2mm machine guns at a slightly higher BR. I personally would not want to grind at a higher BR with only 7.7mm machine guns against way more heavily armed enemies!
Blueprints and sources
Pictures are taken from Nicolas Godfurnon’s book “Renard R-36/37/38 & 40”. In french, sorry :c
Spoiler
Additional sources: