I.Ae. 23

The '''I.Ae. 23''' was a primary training and aerobatic biplane built by the Fábrica Militar de Aviones (FMA) of Argentina. It was known as "Wooden Focke-Wulf" (Focke-Wulf de Madera in Spanish), because it was fundamentally a German Focke-Wulf Fw 44J biplane built under license with Argentine wood.

History
Between 1937 and 1942 the FMA had built 190 units of the FW-44J Stieglitz (designed by Professor Kurt Tank). It was powered by a domestically built version of the Siemens Bramo Sh-14 engine called the I. Ae. Sh-14. The Fw 44Js were destined for the Argentine Military Aviation School and for numerous aero clubs for use as training aircraft.

In 1944, the Instituto Aerotécnico received the request to experiment with the construction of the Fw 44J, but using purely national woods instead of importing them, following the pattern initiated by the development of the I.Ae. 22 "DL" trainer. The project was named I.Ae. 23 and flew for the first time on July 7, 1945. Despite its success, only one was built, as its design was surpassed by other machines of British origin that were acquired in 1946.

Characteristics
Like the FW-44J from which it was derived, the I.Ae.23 sustained flight thanks to two similar single drift planes. It had a conventional fixed landing gear and two tandem open cockpits. For advanced gunnery training it could be fitted with a machine gun.