Let Let Let – Warplanes

Potez-CAMS 161

Based on the same specifications that resulted in the Latécoère 611 and the Breguet 730 flying boats, also the Potez-C.A.M.S. works designed and built a prototype for a modern long-range maritime patrol flying boat for the Aeronavale. Under the type designation no.141 and named ‘Antares’ the 4-engine flying boat prototype made its first flight on 21 January 1938. A production order for initially 31, later reduced to 11 machines was placed, but because of the outbreak of the war production never materialized. The single Potez-C.A.M.S. 141 served operationally until 1943 when it was scrapped, but during it’s career it even managed to sink a German U-boat!

Henri Potez had much more ambitious plans for a larger civil development of the elegant-looking no. 141. Under the type designation no.161 a large 6-engine trans-ocean flying boat for Air France was designed along the same lines as the Latécoère 631 and the Sud-Est SE.200. To test the aero- and hydrodynamic properties of the new large flying boat a 1:2.6 flying scale model was built as the Potez-C.A.M.S 160. Powered by six four-cylinder inverted air-cooled Train 4A-01 engines of 40 hp each this flying scale model with its wing span of 17.69 m made its first flight on 20 June 1938. Flight testing was so promising that the construction of the type 161 was soon commenced. At the time of the German invasion and the capitulation of France it was not yet ready, but under the terms of the armistice the type 161 was completed with civil markings F-BAOV. However, by the time the first flight testing was started it carried the German military markings VE # VW. First flight was made on 20 March 1942 from the Seine river near Sartrouville by the French pilot Maurice Hurel. After the completion of the initial trials it was ferried to Lake Constance where it was eventually destroyed during an allied air raid together with the Latécoère 631/01 and the SE.200.1.

Technical details:

Power plants: six Hispano-Suiza 12Y-36/37 12-cylinder Vee liquid-cooled engines of 920 hp each
Dimensions: wingspan 46.00 m
length 32.90 m
height 8.30 m
wing area 262.8 m2
Weights: empty 20,700 kg
all-up loaded 44,000 kg
Performances: max. speed 354 km/h
range 6000 km with 1300 kg payload
service ceiling -
Equipment: accommodation for 16 passengers and a maximum payload of 2620 kg

S.N.C.A.S.E. (Sud Est) SE.200

Based on the same specifications as the Potez-CAMS 161 for a large trans-ocean flying boat for Air France, the Loiré et Olivier works started in 1936 with the design of a similar six-engine large flying boat under the designation H-49 with the name Amphitrite. After the nationalization of the LeO works as S.N.C.A.S.E. (Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est), the H-49 was re-designated as the SE-200. Just like the Potez-CAMS 161 it was a modern all-metal flying boat fitted with six of the most powerful engines available. The SE-200 had a twin vertical tail layout and two fixed wingfloats with a double deck inside the hull for accommodation of up to 40 passengers and a crew of 8.The French government ordered in 1938 four SE-200′s for the Air France transatlantic route, but when the war broke out none of these were completed at the Marignanne works near Marseille. After the armistice construction on all machines was continued. The SE-200.01 made its first flight on 11 December 1942 from lake Berre with the civil registration F-BAHE. It was named Rochambeau, although it is not certain this name was ever carried on the fuselage nose. The SE-200.01 was confiscated by the Germans and later ferried to Friedrichshafen carrying German Luftwaffe markings 2D # UT. On 17 January 1944 it was destroyed during an allied air raid. when moored on Lake Constance together with the Potez-CAMS 161 and the Laté 631.01.

The second and third machine were damaged during an attack on the Marignanne works. After the war the SE-200.03 was salvaged, repaired and completed. It made its first flight on 2 April 1946 with the civil registration F-BAIY and was tested for the French navy until it made a less fortunate landing on 18 October 1949. The engines were dismantled and it was displayed at Marignane until it was scrapped in 1963.

SE-200.02, completed for ca. 80% during the air raid, was never rebuilt. Also SE-200.04, completed for ca. 70%, was never completed and sold as scrap in 1950. A fifth SE-200, ordered shortly after the initial order of four, was completed for only 10% when it was destroyed during the air raid.

Technical details:

Power plants: six Wright R-2600 Cyclone 14 radial air-cooled engines of 1500 hp each (SE.200.01); Six Gnome-Rhone 14R 26/27 two-row radial air-cooled engines of 1600 hp each
Dimensions: wingspan 52.20 m
length 40.15 m
height 9.43 m
wing area 340 m2
Weights: empty 27,080 kg
all-up loaded 72,000 kg
Performances: max. speed 420 km/h at 4500 m
range 6000 km
service ceiling 5000 m
Equipment: accommodation for up to 40 passengers and a crew of 8

Related posts:

1. Dutch flying boats and amphibians
2. German flying boats Part 1: 1914-1935
3. German flying boats Part 2: 1935-2000
4. Vanneau history
5. Dornier Do-28 amphibian for the MLD

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