SPAD S.XI

The SPAD S.XI, also called the SPAD 11, was a French two-seat biplane reconnaissance aircraft of the First World War designed by Louis Béchereau of SPAD. It was developed under military specification C2 for a two-seat fighter, but poor performance and agility led to it being reclassified as an A.2 reconnaissance aircraft, and it replaced ageing Sopwith 1½ Strutter and Dorand AR types alongside the Salmson 2 and Breguet 14. Powered by a Hispano-Suiza 8B engine, it carried a forward-firing Vickers machine gun and a flexibly mounted Lewis gun for the observer. About 1,000 were built and twelve French squadrons were fully equipped with it, with further use by Belgium and the United States. Persistent handling problems led to its replacement by the SPAD S.XVI development.