Single engine, two seat advanced trainer aircraft

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   In 1932, the Aéronautique Militaire Belge ordered a new batch of R.S.V. 22 trainers, specifying that they were to be equipped with one of the Force’s standard engines, the Hawker Siddeley Lynx radial engine of 215 hp. The company Stampe & Vertongen, established in 1922 and specialized in the construction of school and advanced training aircraft, was to produce the aircraft. The firm's Chief Engineer George W. Ivanov  took the opportunity to modernize the classic R.S.V. design by equipping it with four ailerons, new “N” shaped wing struts, a new undercarriage, a new tail unit and a more streamlined fuselage, besides adapting it for the Lynx engine. The result, designated SV-22 (Lynx) (also S.V. 22) was a very successful advanced trainer with very good aerobatic characteristics for which production started in mid-1933. According to most sources ten aircraft have been produced but most probably an additional number of existing R.S.V. 22 airframes have been reworked by Stampe & Vertongen to SV-22 standards. Known AéM registrations fall in the V-13 to V-36 batch. Most aircraft were still active at the Pilot School at Wevelgem or as Squadron hacks when the German troops invaded Belgium on May 10th, 1940. Several aircraft escaped to France but were finally abandoned when France finally capitulated. The SV-22 design formed the basis for the much larger and equally successful SV-5 Tornado. (Daniel Brackx)