The Early Bird Spad 13 (also SPAD 13) is an American

homebuilt aircraft Homebuilt aircraft, also known as amateur-built aircraft or kit planes, are constructed by persons for whom this is not a professional activity. These aircraft may be constructed from "scratch", from plans, or from assembly kits.Armstrong, Kenn ...

that was designed and produced by the

Early Bird Aircraft Company The Early Bird Aircraft Company was an American aircraft manufacturer based in Erie, Colorado. The company specialized in the design and manufacture of historical replica aircraft, sold as both kits or as just printed plans for amateur constru ...

of Erie, Colorado. When it was available the aircraft was supplied as a kit and also in the form of plans for amateur construction.Purdy, Don: ''AeroCrafter - Homebuilt Aircraft Sourcebook, Fifth Edition'', page 147. BAI Communications, 15 July 1998.

Design and development

The Spad 13 is an 80% scale replica of the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

SPAD S.XIII. It features a

strut-braced 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 ...

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 ...

layout, a single-seat open cockpit, fixed

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

and a single engine in tractor configuration. The aircraft is made from a mix of steel and

aluminum Aluminium (aluminum in American and Canadian English) is a chemical element with the symbol Al and atomic number 13. Aluminium has a density lower than those of other common metals, at approximately one third that of steel. It has ...

tubing, with some wooden parts and its flying surfaces are covered with doped aircraft fabric. Its span wing has a wing area of . The cockpit width is . The acceptable power range is and the standard engine used is the fuel injected

Geo Tracker The Chevrolet Tracker, formerly the Geo Tracker, is a mini SUV produced for Chevrolet and Geo by CAMI Automotive in Ingersoll, Ontario. Although appearing as a compact SUV, the Tracker was actually certified as a light truck due to its off-road ...

four-cylinder, inline, liquid-cooled, four stroke automotive conversion powerplant. The Spad 13 has a typical empty weight of and a gross weight of , giving a useful load of . With full fuel of the payload for pilot and baggage is . The supplied kit included the Tracker engine. The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the kit to be 600 hours.

Operational history

By 1998 the company reported that 35 kits had been sold and one aircraft was flying.

Specifications (Spad 13)

References

{{Early Bird aircraft Spad 13 1990s United States sport aircraft 1990s United States ultralight aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Biplanes Homebuilt aircraft Replica aircraft