An old Swedish proverb says  ”a dear child has many names”. This could really be applied to the ”Hansa”, the low-winged float-plane used in Sweden for almost 30 years. The names and designations were many; Caspar S.I, Hansa Brandenburg,Caspar S.II, Heinkel S.1, HE 1, HE 2, HE 4, S 2, S3, S 4, S 5, S 5A etc…Of course the design and performance was improved during the years, but the main outlines were the same, once drawn by the famous German aircraft designer Ernst Heinkel. The first ”Hansa” (”Caspar S.I”) was made by  Caspar-Werke in Travemünde. Caspar S I was a development of the Hansa Brandenburg W 29, a successful seaplane for reconnaissance and combat duties during WWI. A contract was drawn up for the delivery of a (Read More).....

In 1921, the Army Aviation Company’s Workshops (FMV) at Malmen/Malmslätt near Linköping got an  preliminary order of ten reconnaissance aircraft of Henry Kjellson’s design. The aircraft got the designation S 21 (S = ”Spaning” = ”Reconnaissance” - 21 = 1921, the year of the design). The aircraft had a crew of two - pilot and observer. In these days, aircraft engines was an article in short supply in Sweden. When 22 airship (!) engines type Maybach IVA (260 hp) eventually were obtained from Germany, Kjellson, the chief engineer of FMV, had to design an airframe which suited this engine.

The first S 21 was delivered in 1922. During the trials, several shortcomings were discovered. After some amendments, the other nine airframes were built in 1923-1924. Notwithstanding a long tail, the aircraft was nose-heavy. In the end of 1924, three of the ten aircraft were written(Read More)......