Albert A-20
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
| name=Albert A-20 | image=Albert A-20 Annuaire de L'Aéronautique 1931.jpg | caption= }}{{Infobox aircraft type | type=Mailplane | national origin=France | manufacturer=Avions Albert | designer= | first flight=November 1929 | introduced= | retired= | status= | primary user= | more users= | produced= | number built=1 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles= }} |
The Albert A-20 was a French twin-engined monoplane designed for postal work in 1929. Only one was built.
Design and development
The Albert A-20 had a cantilever, one-piece, thick section, high wing with a convex leading edge and a straight, unswept trailing edge, similar to the wings of the Albert TE.1 and Albert A-10. Narrow-chord ailerons occupied all the trailing edge. The wing structure included multiple spruce and plywood box-spars and variable thickness ply skin.
It was powered by two wing-mounted {{convert|60|hp|kW|abbr=on|order=flip}} Walter NZ 60 five-cylinder radial engines with their mountings enclosed in streamlined aluminium fairings. Fuel tanks were in the wings.
The A-20's fuselage was flat-sided, with a rectangular section throughout, though in plan the extreme nose was rounded as its section decreased. It was wooden, with four longerons and plywood skin. The cockpit was under the wing with a windscreen at the leading edge providing good views ahead and below. There were two side-by-side seats with opening side-windows, the pilot on the left and navigator on the right. A windowed starboard-side door gave access both to the cockpit and to an under-wing cabin behind the crew which could accommodate two passengers or {{convert|150|kg|lb|abbr=on}} of mail. It was lit by a large window opposite the door.
Like the wing, the empennage was wood framed and ply covered. In plan the horizontal tail was roughly elliptical, with an in-flight adjustable tailplane and single-piece elevator. The fin had a quadrantal profile and carried a near-semicircular unbalanced rudder.
The A-20 had fixed, conventional landing gear, with a track of {{convert|3.18|m|ftin|abbr=on}}. Each mainwheel, fitted with a brake, was on a V-strut hinged from the lower longeron, almost horizontal on the ground, with a long oleo strut to the upper longeron. The tailskid was a steel spring.
The exact date of the A-20's first flight is not known but several flights had been made by early December 1929, piloted by both Edouard Albert and Vancaudenberg. They reported a stable and well-behaved aircraft. Despite this, only one was built and there are no new reports on the A-20 beyond 1929 in the contemporary French literature.
Specifications
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Les Ailes, December 1929 Performance figures calculated.
|prime units?=met
|crew=2
|capacity=2 (if used as a passenger transport)
|length m=8.97
|length note=
|span m=15.0
|span note=
|height m=2.90
|height note=
|wing area sqm=25
|wing area note=
|aspect ratio=
|airfoil=
|empty weight kg=835
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=1255
|gross weight note=
|max takeoff weight kg=
|max takeoff weight note=
|fuel capacity=
|more general=
|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=Walter NZ 60
|eng1 type=5-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines
|eng1 hp=60
|eng1 note=
|power original=
|more power=
|prop blade number=2
|prop name=
|prop dia m=2
|prop dia note=wooden
|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=175
|max speed note=
- Landing speed: {{convert|70|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on}}
|cruise speed kmh=
|cruise speed note=
|stall speed kmh=
|stall speed note=
|never exceed speed kmh=
|never exceed speed note=
|minimum control speed kmh=
|minimum control speed note=
|range km=900
|range note=
|endurance=
|ceiling m=5000
|ceiling note=
|g limits=
|roll rate=
|glide ratio=
|climb rate ms=
|climb rate note=
|time to altitude=
|lift to drag=
|wing loading kg/m2=
|fuel consumption kg/km=
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|more performance=
}}
References
{{Commons category}}{{reflist|refs=
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{{Albert aircraft}}
Category:1920s French mailplanes