Renard Epervier Belgian Fighter

The Renard Epervier Type 2 was a Belgian prototype single-seat all-metal fighter monoplane designed by Alfred Renard at the Societé Anonyme Avions et Moteurs Renard for a government-sponsored design contest in 1928. The Epervier Type 2 was built and flown in 1928, by Belgian aircraft manufacturer Stampe et Vertongen. It carried an armament of two synchronised 7.7mm guns and was lost in September 1928 after failing to recover from a flat spin.

A second prototype, the Epervier Type 2bis, introduced revised streamlined fairings for the cantilever mainwheel legs, mainwheel spats and cylinder aft-fairings and was built by SABCA. Demonstrated early in 1930 in competition with various foreign types for an Aviation Militaire order, the Epervier Type 2bis was rejected in favour of the Fairey Firefly.

A further development of the basic design, the Epervier Type 3 powered by a 480hp Rolls-Royce “F” engine and utilising mixed construction and a redesigned wing, was studied under government contract, but was not built.