Engineering:Letov Š-32

From HandWiki
Š-32
Role Airliner
National origin Czechoslovakia
Manufacturer Letov
Designer Alois Šmolik
First flight 1931
Primary user ČSA
Number built 5

The Letov Š-32 was an airliner produced in small numbers in Czechoslovakia during the 1930s. It was a trimotor monoplane with a high, cantilever wing, and was designed to meet a requirement by ČSA for a machine to service a night route between Prague, Bratislava, Uzhorod, and Bucharest. It could carry up to six passengers in a fully enclosed cabin which was praised at the time as being "particularly roomy and lofty".[1] The wings were of all-metal construction, and the fuselage was built up from steel tube and was mostly skinned in metal, other than its very rear part, which, like the empennage, was fabric-covered.

ČSA bought and operated five of these machines. On 26 June 1934, one of these (registered OK-ADB) crashed during final approach to Karlovy Vary, killing all three on board, most notably the famous Austrian actor Max Pallenberg.[2]


Specifications

Data from Monografie: Letov Š-32[3]

General characteristics

  • Crew: two pilots
  • Capacity: Up to six passengers, but more usually configured for four or five
  • Length: 11.60 m (38 ft 1 in)
  • Wingspan: 17.24 m (56 ft 7 in)
  • Wing area: 39.92 m2 (4.0 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 1,884 kg (4,154 lb)
  • Gross weight: 2,750 kg (6,063 lb)
  • Powerplant: 3 × Walter Mars I nine-cylinder radial engine, 107 kW (143 hp) each

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 200 km/h (120 mph, 110 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 180 km/h (110 mph, 97 kn)
  • Range: 600 km (370 mi, 320 nmi) [4]
  • Service ceiling: 4,000 m (13,000 ft)

Notes

  1. Flight 8 January 1932, p. 36
  2. "Pallenberg tödlich abgestürzt" (in de). Prager Tagblatt: p. 1. 27 June 1934. http://anno.onb.ac.at/cgi-content/anno?aid=ptb&datum=19340627&seite=1&zoom=33. Retrieved 24 January 2013. 
  3. Kaše & Pirič Letectví + Kosmonautika 1992 No. 11, p. 666
  4. Stroud 1966, p. 41

References

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