Single engine, two seat advanced trainer and aerobatic aircraft

 

     In 1928 the Belgisch Militair Vliegwezen/Aéronautique Militaire Belge ordered 20 Renard R.S.V. 22/180 (22 m2 wing surface/ 180hp engine) to replace the Morane Saulnier AR MS.35 and remaining Fokker D.VII's used in the advanced trainer role. The contract, worth some 1.860.000 Belgian francs stipulated that the aircraft were to be equipped with Hispano Suiza 180 hp engines which were to be acquired separately in France.  

     The decision to acquire the R.S.V. 22/180 followed a successful presentation at Wevelgem of the prototype on December 16th 1926, followed by an extensive evaluation by I/3Aé (Technische Diensten/Service Techniques ) at Evere as of February 2nd, 1927. This particular machine was reworked by Stampe & Vertongen and delivered as new to the AéM, as the first of the batch of twenty aircraft ordered. In military service the R.S.V. 22/180 was registered V-12 to V37, as a second follow on order was placed for 6 more aircraft. (Some sources mention four more aircraft -serials up to V-41 - but no confirmation on this was found). In service the R.S.V. 28/180 was particularly liked by monitors and student pilots alike as it also performed brilliantly in the aerobatic training role. The only drawback of the machine was its Hispano engine which was quite unreliable and the source of many unexpected field landings mostly resulting in minor damage. When WWI ace Willy Coppens was assigned as Belgian Military Attaché at London he used R.S.V. 22/180 V-16 for his many trips around the country.  A single aircraft (V-35) was equipped with a Renard 9 cylinder radial engine of 200 hp thus becoming the R.S.V 22/200. As the Militair Vliegwezen/Aéronautique Militaire decided to standardize on the 215 hp Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engine for its trainer aircraft (also equipping the Avro 504N already in Belgian service) no orders followed and the project was abandoned. Ivanov, chief designer of the by then independent Stampe & Vertongen aircraft company, developed the R.S.V.22-180 into the SV-22 by introducing the Lynx engine and other aerodynamic improvements. By the mid thirties most R.S.V. 22/180 trainers were withdrawn from use and replaced by the Stampe & Vertongen SV-22 and later on also the SV-4B. Besides at the Pilot School of Wevelgem (Penguin), the R.S.V. 22/180 was active with the Luchtvaartschool/Ecole d’Aéronautique (Cockatoo) at Evere, 4/II/2Aé (White Cocotte) at Nivelles and 5/III/1Aé (Swallow) at Goetsenhoven. (Daniel Brackx)