SPAD S.XIII – 13th Sqn, French Air Service, Charles Biddle 1/48

Corgi Aviation Archive 1/48 scale AA37901: SPAD S.XIII of the 13th Aero Sqn, French Air Service as flown by Charles Biddle, October 1918. Limited edition of 3,510 pieces

Length 5.25 inches Wingspan 6.75 inches

A famed American ace of WWI with seven victories, Charles Biddle attended Princeton and Harvard and was an attorney when he joined the French Air Service. After the war ended, he wrote “The Way of the Eagle.” Kellner-built SPAD XIII S4489 was assigned to the 13th Aero Squadron on July 7, 1918, and was returned to French control on December 15. Biddle’s personal livery included a blue and white radiator cowl — probably in memory of his earlier French unit, SPA73 — and a commander’s tricolor band. In addition, there were victory marks in the form of five notches in the Grim Reaper’s bloody scythe and four tiny crosses behind the running skeleton. Another cross above the tricolor band represented a patched bullet hole.

Designed by The French aircraft company Société pour l’Aviation et ses Dérives (SPAD) as a refinement of the highly-successful SPAD S.VII, the SPAD S.XIII was first flown on April 4th, 1917. Essentially a larger version of its predecessor with a more powerful V-8 Hispano-Suiza engine, the SPAD XIII was a strongly-built wood and fabric biplane. It could reach a top speed of 135 mph—making it 10 mph faster than the new German fighters. It carried two Vickers machine guns, each with 400 rounds of ammunition, and the pilot could fire the guns separately or together.