The Comte AC-3 was a 1920s Swiss bomber/transport aircraft produced by Flugzeugbau A. Comte. The AC-3 was a high-wing semicantilever monoplane of mixed construction. It was fabric covered with a conventional tail unit. It had three open cockpits, one in the nose for a gunner or observer, one forward of the wing for a pilot, and one on the upper rear fuselage for a rear gunner. An unconventional engine layout had two 447 kW (600 hp) Hispano-Suiza inline piston engines in tandem supported on eight struts above the fuselage. The installation had to be high enough to allow clearance for the two (one pusher, one tractor) propellers above the fuselage. A hatch in the port side allowed cargo or troops to be carried in the main cabin. General characteristics • Crew: 3 • Length: 18 m (59 ft 0¾ in) • Wingspan: 26 m (85 ft 3 in) • Height: 6 m (19 ft 8¼ in) • Wing area: 95 m2 (1,022 ft2) • Empty weight: 4000 kg (8,818 lb) • Gross weight: 6500 kg (14,330 lb) • Powerplant: 2 × Hispano-Suiza inline piston, 447 kW (600 hp) each Performance • Maximum speed: 210 km/h (130 mph) • Range: 1500 km (932 miles) • Service ceiling: 5300 m (17,390 ft)
MARIANO, e-mail, 18.04.2009 20:19
One of these aircraft would have been used by the Bolivian Air Force
