Siebel Si 202 - Design and Development

Design and Development

The Hummel was a small single-engined low-wing cantilever monoplane with side-by-side seating for two, designed to accept a variety of low powered engines of either radial or in-line arrangement. It was aimed at the sports and club market. Most variants had sharply clipped wing and tail surfaces, giving the Hummel an attractively angular appearance compared with its contemporaries.

Structurally, the Hummel was a wooden aircraft. The wing were built around a wooden monospar with plywood covered leading edges and ailerons, with fabric covering elsewhere. The fuselage was a plywood covered wooden structure, as were the fixed tail surfaces, rudder and elevators being fabric covered. The horizontal tail surfaces were set noticeably aft of the rudder, rather like the more recent Piper PA-28. The enclosed cabin had dual controls, a single central control column being shared via horizontal extensions. There was a generous baggage space behind the seats. The fixed undercarriage had main wheels on split axles, with low pressure tyres and brakes. There was a sprung tailskid.

The first prototype D-ESFH had a nine-cylinder radial Salmson 9Ad motor of 36 kW (45 hp). For a light aircraft, there was a surprising number of prototypes (at least seven), mostly exploring different engine installations. The engines of the three main variants are given below; the third prototype used a 46 kW (62 hp) Walter Mikron II four-cylinder in-line air-cooled motor.

On 31 January 1939 Si.202B D-EMDR set a new altitude record for light aircraft carrying two people at 5,982 m or 19,625 ft. A few days later it set another record with just the pilot aboard, reaching 7,043 m or 23,106 ft.

At least 17 Hummels, including the prototypes, appeared on the German civil list before the start of World War II and 8 more on the Hungarian list. Total production of all variants is estimated at 66.