22 IS SPAD S XII Nose Art

22 IS SPAD S.XII Nose Art by – Squadron Posters!

The SPAD S.XII or SPAD 12 was a French single-seat biplane fighter aircraft of the First World War developed from the successful SPAD VII by Louis Béchereau, chief designer of the Société Pour L’Aviation et ses Dérivés (SPAD). The SPAD XII was inspired by the ideas of French flying ace Georges Guynemer, who proposed that a maneuverable single-seat aircraft be designed to carry a 37 mm cannon, a weapon which had previously been mounted only in large two-seat “pusher” aircraft such as the Voisin III. Béchereau took his own SPAD VII design as the starting point, but the many major and minor changes incorporated into the SPAD XII made it a quite different aircraft.

The gun chosen for the SPAD XII was not the old Hotchkiss cannon but a new 37 mm Semi Automatique Moteur Canon (SAMC), built by Puteaux, for which 12 shots were carried. The Hispano-Suiza aviation engine had to be geared to allow the gun to fire through the propeller shaft, avoiding the problem of firing through the moving blades. The SPAD XII also carried a single 0.303 inch synchronized (7.7 mm) Vickers machine gun mounted on the starboard side of the nose. In order to carry the heavy cannon the airframe was lengthened and the wingspan and wing area increased. The wingtips were rounded rather than squared off and the wings given a slight forward stagger. To accommodate the required geared output prop shaft engine with a hollow propeller shaft for the cannon to fire through, and power the airframe, weighing 587 kilograms (1,294 lb) rather than the 500 kilograms (1,100 lb) of the SPAD VII, the 180 bhp Hispano-Suiza 8 direct-drive Ab engine was replaced by the geared 220 bhp model 8Cb, which also gave the SPAD XII a clockwise (seen “nose-on”) rotating propeller. Check out this stunning 22 IS SPAD S XII Nose Art by – Squadron Posters! Collect all your military travels and tell your story!

Squadron Posters offers the world’s largest collection of Squadron Specific Art! Check out our stunning vintage style military aviation themed travel posters, honoring All Branches of Service. Our artwork not only represents aircraft, armored cavalry, or ships, it represents adventure and travel. This means we create posters featuring the Space Needle, New Orleans, the Golden Gate Bridge, Mt Rushmore and the National Mall. Of course, McChord AFB isn’t in Seattle but if you’re stationed there your adventure surely involves the Space Needle! 

This is what makes Squadron Posters different–it’s about remembering where you’ve lived and what you’ve seen with a vintage themed travel poster. – Collect your travels and tell your story!