Comte AC-3

Overview

The Comte AC-3 was a bomber and transport aircraft designed and produced by the Swiss aircraft manufacturer Flugzeugbau A. Comte. The AC-3 was a high-wing semi-cantilever monoplane of mixed construction. It was fabric covered and had 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. It used an unconventional engine layout that placed a pair of 447 kW (600 hp) Hispano-Suiza inline piston engines positioned 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.