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The AME VI was a
reconnaissance aircraft
A reconnaissance aircraft (colloquially, a spy plane) is a military aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence (including using photography), signals intelligence, as ...
, produced in Spain in the mid 1920s.
[Enciclopedia de la Aviación Militar Española: Vol. 1, Quirón Ediciones ]
Design and development
It was designed by pilot and engineer Captain
Manuel Bada Vasallo assisted by
Arturo González Gil based on the
Bristol F.2
The Bristol F.2 Fighter is a British First World War two-seat biplane fighter and reconnaissance aircraft developed by Frank Barnwell at the Bristol Aeroplane Company. It is often simply called the Bristol Fighter, ''"Brisfit"'' or ''"Biff"'' ...
b aircraft used at the time by the Spanish Military Air Arm ''(Aeronáutica Militar Española)'', hence its designation AME.
The two first prototypes were built in 1924 at the Aeronáutica Militar workshop in
Cuatro Vientos
Cuatro Vientos is a ward (''barrio'') of Madrid belonging to the district of Latina.
Geography
Cuatro Vientos is situated in the south-western area of central Madrid, close to the motorways A5 and M40 and to the homonymous airport.
External l ...
. Conventional for its day, it was a
biplane
A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...
with staggered wings powered by a
Hispano-Suiza 8
The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza ...
Fb engine. The twin-leg Lamblin radiators were mounted on the undercarriage. The pilot and observer sat in open cockpits in tandem.
Twenty examples were produced for the ''
Aeronáutica Militar'' of the
Spanish Army
The Spanish Army ( es, Ejército de Tierra, lit=Land Army) is the terrestrial army of the Spanish Armed Forces responsible for land-based military operations. It is one of the oldest active armies — dating back to the late 15th century.
The ...
in 1925 and 1926, being incorporated in the Grupo IV unit at
Melilla
Melilla ( , ; ; rif, Mřič ; ar, مليلية ) is an autonomous city of Spain located in north Africa. It lies on the eastern side of the Cape Three Forks, bordering Morocco and facing the Mediterranean Sea. It has an area of . It was par ...
, along with the existing Bristol F-2b. In February 1927 the AME VI were made part of the ''Escuela de Observadores'' training unit at Cuatro Vientos. They remained in service until December 1931 when they were phased out during the military restructuring promoted by
Manuel Azaña
Manuel Azaña Díaz (; 10 January 1880 – 3 November 1940) was a Spanish politician who served as Prime Minister of the Second Spanish Republic (1931–1933 and 1936), organizer of the Popular Front in 1935 and the last President of the Repu ...
, the newly nominated
Minister of War
A defence minister or minister of defence is a cabinet official position in charge of a ministry of defense, which regulates the armed forces in sovereign states. The role of a defence minister varies considerably from country to country; in som ...
of the
republican government
Representative democracy, also known as indirect democracy, is a type of democracy where elected people represent a group of people, in contrast to direct democracy. Nearly all modern Western-style democracies function as some type of represe ...
. Azaña's aim was to modernize the Spanish military and cut down the expenses of the state in the aftermath of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
.
[Ignacio Hidalgo de Cisneros, ''Cambio de Rumbo'', Ed. Ikusager, Vitoria 2001, pg. 273]
The AME VI was further developed with redesigned fuselage and tail unit as the AME VIA
Operators
; (Kingdom)
*''
Aeronáutica Militar''
; (Republic)
*''
Aeronáutica Militar''
Specifications
See also
References
External links
*
Birth, first steps and pre-war planes of the Spanish Military Aviation{{Loring aircraft
1920s Spanish military reconnaissance aircraft
Biplanes
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1924