Schoettler I

The Schoettler I was one of the first aircraft constructed in China, albeit with a German designer. It was a two-seat, single engine biplane, first flown in mid-summer 1923.

The aircraft was designed by the German engineers Ferdinand Schoettler and Ernst Fuetterer and built at Longhua, Shanghai.^[1] The only major components imported from Europe were the engine, instruments, wheels and dope for the fabric covering; everything else was locally produced from local materials by workers without aviation experience or modern machinery. Work on it began in the summer of 1922.

The Schoettler I was a conventional European style two seat tractor biplane, rather similar to the German Aviatik B.II and Albatros B.II designs, with equal span two bay wings. These were mounted with 2° of dihedral and 597 mm, almost 2 ft, of stagger. The gap between the upper and lower planes was 1,676 mm (66 in), maintained by parallel pairs of aerofoil section struts and wire bracing. The unswept wings had a constant chord of 1,600 mm (63 in) with blunt wing tips and ailerons on both upper and lower planes. The Schoettler's empennage was also conventional.

The fuselage was likewise a standard rectangular section wooden girder structure, fabric covered except around the engine and a wood upper decking around the open, tandem cockpits for pilot and for the observer, who sat under the wing trailing edge. It tapered to a knife-edge at the tail. At the front the 160 hp (119 kW) Mercedes water-cooled upright inline engine was enclosed in a rectangular cross-section metal cowling which tapered vertically, exposing the upper cylinders, to a two blade propeller. At the rear of the housing an external radiator, with shutters for engine temperature control, projected on each side. The Schoettler had a conventional fixed undercarriage, with the mainwheels on a rigid axle mounted on V-struts.

The date of the first flight is unknown, but this was on or before 23 July 1923 when the Schoettler was test flown by ex-RAF pilot W. E. B. Holland. The latter reported good handling and an excellent, 360°, field of view for the observer noting the aircraft's potential for development.^[2] More recent articles claim the first flight by a Chinese built aircraft was that of the indigenously-designed Xianyi Rosamonde (or Dashatou Rosamonde) on 12 July 1923, though without mention of the Schoettler;^[3] the two aircraft were evidently close contemporaries.

Data from Flight, 1 November 1923^[2]

General characteristics

• Capacity: Two
• Length: 27 ft 4.75 in (8.3503 m)
• Wingspan: 39 ft 6 in (12.04 m)
• Height: 10 ft 3 in (3.12 m)
• Wing area: 401.75 sq ft (37.324 m²)
• Empty weight: 1,634 lb (741 kg)
• Gross weight: 2,558 lb (1,160 kg)
• Powerplant: 1 × Mercedes water-cooled engine, 160 hp (120 kW)
• Propellers: 2-bladed

Performance

• Maximum speed: 128 mph (206 km/h, 111 kn) at 1,000 ft (305 m)
• Cruise speed: 98 mph (158 km/h, 85 kn)
• Stall speed: 45 mph (72 km/h, 39 kn)
• Endurance: 4.5 h
• Wing loading: 6.3 lb/sq ft (31 kg/m²)
• Power/mass: 0.063 hp/lb (103 W/kg)

• Feng Ru, Chinese-American who constructed and demonstrated an aircraft of his own design in China from 1911 to 1912