- Yes.
- No.
Hello everyone! Today I’m going to suggest the Koolhoven F.K. 51 with the Armstrong Siddely Jaguar engine that was operated by the Spanish!
A Spannish Koolhoven F.K. 51 “Jaguar”
Source: “Koolhoven, Nederlandse vliegtuigbouwer in de schaduw van Fokker” book by Theo Wesselink & Thijs Postma
Quick note:
Koolhoven didn’t give the various F.K. 51 variants any special names, they were all simply called F.K. 51. In order to properly suggest the different variants, I’m including the engine type within Quotation Marks next to the F.K. 51 name.
History
Spoiler
The Spannish Koolhoven F.K. 51 “Jaguar”
Source: https://www.hollandaircraft.nl/K07a%20Koolhoven%20FK%2051%20single%20seater.pdfIn 1935 the Dutch Aircraft builder Koolhoven had produced the F.K. 51 trainer biplane at their own cost, and was now in the progress of showing it to the Dutch Air Force in the hopes of them being interested and buying more of them.
This plan worked and the Dutch Air Force would end up buying 54 of these aircraft.In the meantime Koolhoven had caught the attention of the Spanish government. On the 13th of September 1935 two men that worked for Koolhoven left for Spain together with the first F.K. 51 Prototype. They would demonstrate the aircraft to the Spanish government, who by the end of it were very impressed and would order somewhere around 40 aircraft (Exact number is unknown).
But by the time Koolhoven was producing these aircraft for Spain, a Civil war had broken out that would last from the 18th of July 1936 till the 31st of March 1939. During this time no other countries were allowed to ship any militairy equipment to the country. So Koolhoven had to get creative.
Koolhoven’s solution was genius. Inside the Koolhoven factory no one spoke of Spain, instead they referred to the Spanish aircraft as Siamese onces, or Chinese, pretty much some other country.
A company that really only existed on paper was made under a French name that would act as the contact that Koolhoven would sell the aircraft too.
Finally the aircraft had their rear open cockpit covered up, and with paint the word “POST” was written on the sides of the aircraft. Because who would really bat an eye to a couple of small postal aircraft?Once delivered to this French contact, Spanish pilots would pick them up and fly them to Spain. The plan worked and at least 28 F.K. 51’s managed to get to Spain this way.
A couple of the Spanish F.K. 51’s were made to a much more unique design then the standard F.K. 51’s. These were fitted with a Armstrong Siddely Jaguar engine, that Koolhoven had managed to get from an aircraft dump by taking the engines of left over Armstrong Whitworth Argosy airliners (Exactly why these engines were used is not known to me, maybe to save cost, or maybe because no other engines were avaliable at the time.) But more importantly, these Jaguar models didn’t come with two seats. Instead they had just one seat that was fitted with an enclosed cockpit, turning the aircraft into a single seat fighter, instead of a two seat trainer.
The aircraft were fitted with two machine guns in the top wing, and were used to carry out nighttime missions.
After the civil war a handfull of F.K. 51’s remained. But it’s unclear if any of the Jaguar versions survived the conflict. After the war an attempt was made by the Spanish to get 10 more not yet delivered F.K. 51’s from Koolhoven, but sadly these were all destroyed when the Koolhoven Factory was blown up by German bombers during the invasion of the Netherlands.
Design
Spoiler
The Koolhoven F.K.51 “Jaguar” was a single-seat fighter biplane. A couple of the aircraft operated by the Spanish were fitted with the Armstrong Siddely Jaguar engine producing 420 hp.
A cool detail about this engine is that the propellor blades that came with it were too long, so the Koolhoven engineers gave the Jaguar powered aircraft a longer landing gear which would give the propellor blades enough clearance of the ground.The straight line speed of the aircraft was 253 km/h at 2280 meters.
The Jaguar versions of the F.K. 51 were fitted with two machine guns in the top wing. And since they are single-seat there is no rear gunner as seen on the other F.K. 51 variants. Futhermore the Jaguar version had an enclosed cockpit that was located around the middle of the fuselage.
Specifications
Spoiler
Crew: 1 (Pilot)
Length: 7.85 m
Wingspan: 9 m
Height: 2.85 m
Empty weight: 1,450 kg
Full weight: 1,600 kg
Powerplant: Armstrong Siddeley Jaguar IVA (420 hp)
Maximum straight line speed: 253 km/h at 2280 meters
Service ceiling: 6,300 m
Armament
Guns:
2 × 7.9 mm (Most likely Browning) machine guns
Ingame
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We’ve got the Spanish VRCC ingame as a premium for Italy, so by that logic I would suposse that any other Spanish vehicles would end up going there too. This F.K. 51 is pretty much on par with other Reserve tier aircraft ingame. The aircraft could be a nice premium if Gaijin doesn’t want to include Spain into the researchable techtree for Italy.
I think it would be a interesting aircraft to add. It’s a very unique modification of the F.K. 51 due it being a single seat fighter version. The Jaguar engine is quite a powerfull engine at the time so I think this F.K. 51 would perform quite well.
A side profile of the Spannish Koolhoven F.K. 51 “Jaguar”
Source: https://www.hollandaircraft.nl/K07a%20Koolhoven%20FK%2051%20single%20seater.pdf
So there you have it! Please make sure to vote in the poll above, and let me know what you think of this little fighter aircraft!
Sources
Spoiler
Main sources:
- “Koolhoven, Nederlandse vliegtuigbouwer in de schaduw van Fokker” book by Theo Wesselink & Thijs Postma
- Koolhoven F.K.51 - TracesOfWar.nl
Secondairy sources:
- https://www.hollandaircraft.nl/K07a%20Koolhoven%20FK%2051%20single%20seater.pdf
- IPMS Nederland - Koolhoven FK.51
Extra sources: