Hi,
RSV 1929 = 2pOB and 2pOlwM; 100hp Renard; span: 31'3" length: 23'7"; (monoplane) v: 115/90/40 range: 500; (biplane) v: 102/85/28 range: 550. Actually Belgian RSV (Renard, Stampe & Vertongen) 18/100 and 26/100 light tourers, to be built under license in this country by Gates. Claimed spin- and stall-proof; transformation to or from a biplane was claimed in less than two hours. $3,750 as monoplane, $750 more for the biplane kit, but buyer interest was nonexistent. POP: 2 [X118M, X841W] (plus 2 imports, SEE following sidebar). One convertible-wing arrangement was entered in the
Guggenheim Safe Airplane Competition at Mitchel Field NY, but was withdrawn for unstated reasons.
The planes had a common fuselage but, contrary to what has been reported in many sources, the RSV 18 monoplane could
not be converted to the RSV 26 biplane nor vice versa. However, it has been reported that the type was redesigned on behalf of Gates to adapt it to US production methods, and maybe this also implied that the Gates RSV was convertible, but the Belgian versions were not. RSV 18/100 [O-BAJK], later [OO-AJK], was sold in the USA as [NC157H] in 1931 (this date may have been a bookkeeping exercise only and it probably was imported about 1929), while [O-BRSV], later [OO-RSV], became [NX9163] in 1929. In addition to these two, a small number of each type was built in Belgium. The two Gates registrations quoted above for were probably the only RSVs completed in the USA (but to the Belgian plans or the US plans?)
(— Luc Wittemans 10/23/00).
