FR0024 Stampe S.V.4b Belgium

History:
The Stampe et Vertongen S.V.4 is probably one of the Belgian aeronautical industry‘s most outstanding successes. Jean Stampe’s aim was to design a training plane with very good aerobatic capabilities, which as the S.V.4’s career proves, is something that he did very well.

 

The Stampe S.V.4b (“b” for bis or second version) was registered as OO-ATC. It won competitions held by the Belgian Aéronautique Militaire and the French Armée de l’Air, which were both held in the summer of 1939. The Belgians ordered thirty planes for their Aé. Mil. to be delivered between December 1939 and May 1940. Michel Donnet and Léon Divoy later “liberated” the prototype backup, registered as OO-ATD, on July 4th 1941, and used it to escape from occupied Belgium to England.

The French and Belgian air forces both lacked training aircraft following WWII. France initially ordered 701 SV4’s powered by a 4-POI Renault engine built under licence in Sartrouville, and then ordered 150 more units to be built in Algeria. The Renault powered version was designated Stampe S.V.4c

In 1947, Belgium ordered sixty-five of the S.V.4b version, although these differed slightly from the pre-war version, being fitted with a more powerful Gipsy Major X engine and having a removable sliding canopy. Built from 1948 to 1955 in Antwerp, these planes were used by the Belgian Force Aérienne‘s Elementary Training School, and were registered from V1 to V65. The S.V.4b was also the mount of the “Manchots” (Penguins) aerobatic team; which was the first team to display the “mirror” figure. The team disbanded in 1968, but the Force Aérienne continued to operate their S.V.4b’s until 1970. They were then sold mainly to buyers from the UK and USA. Some S.V.4’s are displayed in the Bruxelles Museum, including OO-ATD and V64, which looks spectacular in its yellow and black livery. S.V.4’s are still in use nowadays, and owners and enthusiasts of this remarkably successful design are supported by the “Stampe Club”.

Specs: Single engined two-seat aerobatic capable trainer biplane. Wingspan: 8,39 m (upper wing) and 8 m (lower wing), length 6,97 m, wing area 8,06 m2, weight (empty) 529 kg, maximum weight 770 kg. With a Renault 4-PO3 engine, maximum speed at sea level 198 km/h.

Additional information, documentation:

  • All boxes contain two common plastic sprues, including two cowlings (Gipsy and Renault) and transparent parts for all versions (2 windshields for the open cockpit version, one closed canopy for the standard belgian version, and one for the Manchots aerobatic team) as well as a commmon resin sprue giving two Venturis, two humps for version a (allows to go from version c to version a, aerobatics) and one Pitot tube. A specific resin part is added, when needed.
  • The Stampe Museum in Dheurne (close to Antwerpen) keeps at least one Stampe in flying conditions and proposes to fly in a Stampe. Check with the Museum to get the conditions
  • Documentation : Les avions Stampe, Réginald Jouhaud (Wimpel Amsterdam), and the Ouest France booklet, also from Reginald Jouhaud
  • Documentation : the belgian IPMS magazine, KIT, publishes in issue 180 a review of the Manchots build (written by Pierre Sanglier) and shows some improvements. For this version (at least), you should suppress the hump on the left fuselage, immediately below the cockpit struts (it was used, apparently, only on french planes).

Camouflage schemes:

  • V33 orange and dayglo red, with Training School crest (penguin) on fuselage, please see boxart
  • V18 of the Manchots Aerobatic Team, aircraft in black and white, red and white arrows on top of upper wing, big Penguin on rudder. Both version of canopies were used (single or twin seater)
  • V23 all silver with yellow fuselage and wings stripes