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Rhodesian Aviation RA1 Lightning Storm (Republic of Rhodesia)
Role | Fighter |
Place of origin | Rhodesia |
Manufacturer | Rhodesian Aviation |
First flight | 11 March 1936 |
Introduction | 1938 |
Primary users | Rhodesian Air Force |
Retired | 1945 |
Numbers built | 42 |
The Rhodesian Aviation RA1 Lightning Storm was a 1930s high-wing, single-seat, monoplane fighter aircraft of Rhodesian design built for the Rhodesian Air Force. The RA1 was designed by French-trained engineers Peter Bradsen and Alan Westworth, who saw the desirability of developing a home-grown aircraft industry. A gull-wing design, it was armed with a hub-firing autocannon and fuselage-mounted synchronised machine guns. Just 42 production models were built, as the aircraft was obsolescent at the time it was brought into service in 1938, and only 20 were serviceable at the time of the Zambian invasion of Hurungwe in Spetember 1940.
Operators
Rhodesia
—• Rhodesian Air Force
Specifications
General characteristics
Crew: 1
Length: 7.88 m
Wingspan: 11.4 m
Height: 3.84 m
Empty weight: 1,502 kg
Gross weight: 1,857 kg
Powerplant: 1x Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs liquid-cooled V-12 piston engine, 860 shp
Propellers: 3-bladed adjustable pitch
Performance
Maximum speed: 435 km/h at 5,000 m
Range: 700 km
Service ceiling: 12,000 m
Time to altitude: 5 minutes 25 seconds to 5,000 m
Armament
Guns:
1x 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon with 60 rounds in a spiral drum
2x 7.92 mm Browning/FN machine guns with 250 rounds per gun