SPAD XIII WWI RAF
Scale: 1/72
Brand: ACADEMY
Item # 12446

Was kit #1623.

The French-built SPAD XIII was one of the most famous fighters of

World War I. While most of the fighters in use during the War
used a rotating radial engine(Rotary), the SPAD was one of the
first to use the more powerful and efficient liquid-cooled inline

type which later became the standard power unit for fighter
aircraft for many years.

So effective was the SPAD that several Allied countries used it
during the War, including the United States, who had no combat
airplanes of its own design in the War. Armed with one or two
Vickers 7.65 mm machine guns firing through the propeller arc,
the SPAD was a formidable foe. Some versions of the plane carried

a devastating 37mm Hotchkiss cannon mounted in the nose and
firing through the propeller hub. Other SPADs carried
strut-mounted Le Prieur rockets.

This model of the SPAD XIII has markings used by one of the
United States fighter groups based in France.