Stampe et Vertongen RSV.32

RSV.32
RSV 32-90
Role	trainer aircraft
National origin	Belgium
Manufacturer	Stampe et Vertongen
Designer	Alfred Renard
First flight	1923
Primary user	Belgian Air Force
Number built	57 (disputed)

The Stampe et Vertongen RSV.32 was a trainer aircraft produced in Belgium in the early 1920s. Designed originally for the Stampe et Vertongen flying school, the Belgian Air Force became a major operator of the type, where it became the first aircraft of entirely Belgian design and manufacture to enter service. Many others were purchased by flying clubs and private owners. No RSV.32 was in existence by the end of World War II.

Jean Stampe and Maurice Vertongen, veterans of World War I, founded a flying school at Deurne in 1923. Their research into the training aircraft then available led them to believe that the British-built Central Centaur IV was the best choice for their school. When they discovered that the Centaur IV had just ceased production, their friend, Maurice Boel, introduced them to engineer Alfred Renard, whom Stampe and Vertongen contracted to design a similar aircraft that could be built cheaply and locally. Renard's response was a conventional two-bay biplane with unstaggered wings of equal span. Power was provided by a radial engine in the nose. The student pilot and instructor sat in tandem in a single, open cockpit and communicated through a speaking tube. The main units of the fixed undercarriage shared a common axle, and the tail was supported by a skid. Construction was of wood throughout, braced with wire and covered in fabric, and stressed to withstand rough treatment by student pilots. To reduce costs, many parts were interchangeable, including the struts, longerons, undercarriage legs, and even the upper and lower wings. Initial construction of the prototype commenced in a dance hall in Evere and was completed in the hangar of the Administration de l'Aéronautique (the Belgian Aviation Administration) on 23 April 1923,. The aircraft was registered O-BOEL in honour of the friend who introduced Renard to Stampe and Vertongen. After the prototype had been tested, King Albert I paid a royal visit to Stampe et Vertongen and asked for a joy ride over Antwerp in it.

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