The Caudron 02 was a French high altitude single seat fighter that was flown in November 1917.

Design and development

The proper name and even the existence of this aircraft have been disputed in the past, but plans for the Type 02 high altitude fighter aircraft have since been found in the French Musée de l'Air. Hauet also refers to it as the C.02 and Green and Swanborough as the Type O, though the latter was a quite different sports aircraft from 1914. The Type 02 was designed to fight at altitudes up to through a combination of engine power and flat airfoil section. It was a conventional single bay biplane with fabric covered, unswept, parallel chord wings ending in angled tips. The lower wing was smaller than the upper one, with a span reduced by 13% and a narrower chord. The wings had neither stagger nor dihedral and only the upper wing was fitted with ailerons. There was a pair of parallel, upright, streamlined

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of strut, which act in ...

s on each side, with the usual diagonal wire bracing. The upper wing was close to the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraf ...

, linked by four short, leaning cabane struts. The intention was to power the Type 02 operationally with either a Gnome 9N or a Le Rhône 9R engine, though for about fours months of initial testing it was fitted with a

Le Rhône 9J The Le Rhône 9J is a nine-cylinder rotary aircraft engine produced in France by Gnome et Rhône. Also known as the Le Rhône 110 hp in a reference to its nominal power rating, the engine was fitted to a number of military aircraf ...

b. All of these engines were nine cylinder rotaries. Photographs show neat, close fitted cowlings. Behind the engine the fuselage maintained a circular cross-section. The pilot's open cockpit was placed under the upper

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 199 ...

, where there was a semi-circular cut-out to increase his upward field of view. The Type 02's

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropla ...

was of unusually long chord and in plan was a highly swept delta, mounted on top of the fuselage. The

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

was also wide and shallow, though less angular. It had an un balanced rudder which reached down to the keel, operating in a nick in the

elevator An elevator or lift is a cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or decks of a building, vessel, or other structure. They a ...

s. There was a tailskid undercarriage with mainwheels on a single axle with a track, sprung from forward raked V-struts from the lower fuselage. First tests were made in November 1917, using the lower powered Le Rhône engine and flying from a base at . The more powerful Gnome engine was not tested until April 1918; and the larger Le Rhône was also fitted that spring. It is not known how many prototypes were built but the Type 02 did not enter production; it handled well but its performance and armament were not a significant improvement over those of the

SPAD S.XIII The SPAD S.XIII is a French biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War, developed by '' Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés'' (SPAD) from the earlier and highly successful SPAD S.VII. During early 1917, the French designer Louis Bé ...

, already in series production.

Specifications (Le Rhone 9R)

References

{{Caudron aircraft C.02 1910s French fighter aircraft Rotary-engined aircraft Biplanes Aircraft first flown in 1917