The Sikorsky S-12 was a Russian single engine trainer aircraft completed in the spring of 1913 by the
Russian Baltic Railroad Car Works while
Igor Sikorsky
Igor Ivanovich Sikorsky (russian: И́горь Ива́нович Сико́рский, p=ˈiɡərʲ ɪˈvanəvitʃ sʲɪˈkorskʲɪj, a=Ru-Igor Sikorsky.ogg, tr. ''Ígor' Ivánovich Sikórskiy''; May 25, 1889 – October 26, 1972)Fortie ...
was the chief engineer of the aircraft manufacturing division.
Design and development
The S-12 was a single seat mid-wing
monoplane
A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes.
A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...
with
wire-braced wings and powered by a
Gnome Lambda
The Gnome 7 Lambda was a French designed, seven-cylinder, air-cooled rotary aero engine that was produced under license in Britain and Germany. Powering several World War I-era aircraft types it was claimed to produce from its capacity of al ...
air-cooled
rotary engine
The rotary engine is an early type of internal combustion engine, usually designed with an odd number of cylinders per row in a radial configuration. The engine's crankshaft remained stationary in operation, while the entire crankcase and its ...
rated at . It was smaller and lighter than the
S-11 on which it was based, and was specifically designed to be highly maneuverable.
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Operational history
The S-12 was the most successful monoplane Sikorsky designed during his time in Russia and twelve examples were produced.
In September 1913 an S-12 became the first Russian aircraft to perform an inside loop at the Kolomyazhskiy hippodrome
The hippodrome ( el, ἱππόδρομος) was an ancient Greek stadium for horse racing and chariot racing. The name is derived from the Greek words ''hippos'' (ἵππος; "horse") and ''dromos'' (δρόμος; "course"). The term is used i ...
north of St. Petersburg. Later an S-12 set an altitude record of . During World War I and the Russian Revolution S-12s served with the Russian Air Force and some were still in service until 1922.
Specifications
References
{{Sikorsky Aircraft
S-11
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Mid-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1913
Rotary-engined aircraft