WesWorld

Constructions Aeronautiques Renard et Stampe (CARS) - Deurne, Evere and Antwerp

SABCA (Sociétés Anonyme Belge de Constructions Aéronautiques) - Charlerois-Gosselies and Brussels

Societe Anonyme Belge Avions Fairey - Gosselies

Societe D’Etudes Aeronautiques - Brussels

Minerva -Avia Engines - Liege

Reynard was founded by brothers Georges and Alfred Renard in 1928. Alfred Renard became Chief Designer. Since the 1930s the company has built almost all the fighters used by the Belgian Air Force, including Hawker Hurricanes under licence. Reynard has two factories, near Deurne and Evere.

Current Types:
R.38: single-seat fighter, 140 built 1941-44

Founded in 1920, designs from de Havilland, Fokker, Koolhoven and Savoia Marchetti have been licence-built in the past in addition to its own products, which have only been built in relatively small numbers. The factory is at Charlerois-Gosselies near Brussels and there is also an engine factory in Brussels.

Current Types:
S.48C: six-seat airliner, production currently stopped but could be resumed on receiving further orders

Established in 1922 in Antwerp with Alfred Renard as its Chief Designer, the company designed a series of trainer/tourer aircraft in the 1920s and 1930s. In the early 1930s Alfred Renard left to join the new Renard company he had formed with his brother Georges Renard. The company's most successful design is the SV.4 light tourer/trainer biplane which has led to a series of improved variants.

Current Types:
The following are in production for civil and military buyers; SV-4, SV-5, SV-6, SV-7 and SV-9

Founded in Brussels in 1920 as the central research and technical development centre of Belgian aviation technology. It advises all Belgian aircraft manufacturers and has done research for Koolhoven in the past and works with the main research centres in the Netherlands.

A subsidiary of the British aircraft manufacturer Fairey, founded in 1931 to manufacture aircraft for the Belgian Air Force. Fairey already had a number of Belgians in key roles in the company; Ernest Oscar Tips and Marcel Lobelle had joined during the Great War. Tips went to Belgium to set up the subsidiary company and he based the new company at Gosselies near Charleroi. The fighter ace Fernand Jacquet who operated a flying school nearby joined the company in 1931. E.O. Tips has designed a number of light civil aircraft at Avions Fairey, the Tipsy family of aircraft which are manufactured at Gosselies by a subsidiary, Avions Tispy.

Current Types:
Avions-Fairey Fox II: two-seat ground-attack aircraft, 144 on order for delivery 1946-48
Tipsy M

In Development:
Tipsy Junior

The famous car manufacturer Minerva brought a controlling stake in Fokker-Avia’s engine division in the mid-1930s and the firm now builds under licence Minerva products as well as other manufacturers products. Minerva is known for its quality and Knight auto engines, essentially being a Belgian Rolls–Royce. The radials are primarily built in Czechoslovakia, both home designed and licensed copies (mainly Bristol radials). Inline engines are developed in Belgium by Minerva and built at both Belgian (Brussels) and Czech factories (Letňany).

Products:

Paladin
While Minerva cut its teeth on licensed copies of the Hispano-Suiza 12Y, it has developed its own follow on, the “Paladin”. This is a 14-cylinder V-12 engine. In the 1930s, maximum supercharging for Avia inlines was limited to 4,000 and 5,000m. In the 1940s this has crept up to 6,000m and now Avia are developing a three-stage supercharger. The Paladin weighs roughly 1600lbs and runs on 94-Octane fuel.
1939 Paladin II 1517hp
1940 Paladin III 1592hp
1941 Paladin IV 1643hp

Faucon
This is an Avia-developed 14-cylinder radial engine.
1940 Faucon VI 1650hp
1941 Faucon XVII 1735hp

Minion
1936 Minion II 675hp
1937 Minion IIS 725hp
1941 Minion III 725hp
1943 Minion IV 750hp
1944 Minion V 650hp

Avia Radial Engines
1938 Busard
1939 Busard Light
1940 Balbuzard 14R
1942 Faucon 18
1944 Aigle
1946 Condor

Minerva-Avia Inline Engines
1939 Minion
1941 Saker
1943 Culverin
1946 Royal

Poncelet N.V.
Paul Poncelet was a foreman responsible for the timber section at the aircraft manufacturer SABCA. In collaboration with other workers at SABCA he had constructed three aircraft; the glider Castar in 1923, the Vivette powered-glider in 1924 and the Demonty-Poncelet Cyrano twin-engined aircraft, also from 1924. The Cyrano was built in collaboration with Mathieu Demonty, technical director at SABCA and it was the first Belgian aircraft with an enclosed side-by-side seated cockpit. The Castar was lost in an accident during the meeting at Vauville in 1925, with the death of its pilot Victor Simonet. The Vivette was also present and flown by Commandant Massaux it broke the world gliding endurance record by 10 hours.
In 1932, Paul left SABCA and set up his own business manufacturing wooden propellers. To expand the range of products, they began building boats from moulded wood based on Canadian canoes. Poncelet supplies all propellers for Stampe and Vertongen and also overhauls and repairs propellers for the Belgian Air Force.

Formed in September 1946 by a merger of Constructions Aeronautiques G. Renard and Stampe & Vertongen. CARS has three factories, near Deurne, Evere and Antwerp.
Currently in Production: SV-4, SV-5, SV-6, SV-7, SV-9
In Development: R.45, RS-7, RS-9