AEKKEA-RAAB R-29

Infobox Aircraft
name = AEKKEA-RAAB R-29


caption =
type = fighter
national origin = GRE
manufacturer = AEKKEA-RAAB
designer =
first flight =
introduction = 1936
retired =
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The R-29 fighter belongs to a number of plane types that were developed in Greece by AEKKEA-RAAB, a company founded in this country by Antonius Raab, a German airplane designer, and his Greek partners. Other reported models of the new company were related to earlier products of the Raab-Katzenstein company that had previously operated in Germany. These included the R-27 single-seat fighter, introduced in 1935. It featured a light construction with wooden wings, steel-tube fuselage and a Hispano-Suiza 12Y engine; its maximum speed was 430 km/h. However, there is apparently no production record for this type. The R-29 was a completely new design developed by Raab’s Greek company in late 1936, featuring similar structural characteristics with the aforementioned type, a "Ranger" engine, cantilever single-leg undercarriage, two machine-guns, and a maximum speed of 473 km/h. It should be noted that there seems to be some discrepancy between "Jane's" contemporary reporting it as a "fighter", and Raab's later description (in his book) of the plane as a "trainer". However, at least one more contemporary document (documents for export to Spain) describes it as fighter, so an error (or a perception of its possible use as an advanced trainer) in Raab's book, written almost half a century later, cannot be precluded. This plane, along with another new type, the "Tigerschwalbe 33" was destined for the Republican forces in Spain. The main and all complex parts of 30 planes of each type were produced in Greece and shipped to Spain, where a subsidiary company carried out assembly and completion. Here, too, there is some discrepancy, as a major AEKKEA aircraft engineer, G. Pangakis, had reported 40 (rather than 30) "R-29s" shipped to Spain in almost finished state, only missing engines and machine guns. According to Raab, the 60 or so almost finished planes of both types, together with the construction plans, were handed over to the Soviets by the Republicans and shipped to the USSR, their fate remaining unknown. In this respect, it seems that this unknown fighter has taken part in WWII against the Germans in one way or another, in line with Raab's anti-Nazi passion.

References

*L.S. Skartsis and G.A. Avramidis, "Made in Greece", Typorama, Patras, Greece (2003) (republished by the University of Patras Technology Park, 2006).
*Jane’s "All the World’s Aircraft" (1936-1937 ed.)
*Antonius Raab, "Raab Fliegt (Erinnerungen eines Flugpioniers)", Reihe Konkret, Hamburg (1984).