Let Let Let – Warplanes

Loire L.501

The Atelliers et Chantiers de la Loire designed and built in 1930 a small three-seat amphibian flying boat intended for military communications and training with type designation Loire L.50. It was a parasol monoplane with the engine fitted on struts above the wing centre section. The hull was made of light-alloy. Wings and tailplane were also made of metal with fabric covering. For naval use, the outer wing panels could be folded. The Loire L.50 made its first flight on 7 September 1931 fitted with a 230 hp Salmson 9AB radial air-cooled engine. The L.50 was initially flown without an amphibian landing gear. On 1 October 1931 it sank in shallow water after an accident, but the plane was salvaged and rebuilt. Fitted with a more powerful Hispano-Suiza 9Qd radial engine it was put into service at the French navy.

A further six machines with the same engine were ordered and built as Loire L.501. All seven planes were uses at various naval stations for communication duties. During the early months of the war, only one L.501 was still operational.

Technical details:
Power plants: Hispano-Suiza 9Qd air-cooled nine-cylinder radial engine of 350 hp
Dimensions: wingspan 16.00 m
length 10.80 m
height 4.46 m
wing area 36.5 m2
Weights: empty 1385 kg
all-up loaded 2150 kg
Performances: max. speed 194 km/h at 1000 m
range 1600 km at 165 km/h and 1500 m
service ceiling 4850 m
Equipment: provision for one machine gun in the nose

Latécoère 300

For use as a postal trans-Atlantic flying boat the Latécoère works designed and built their type 300. The Laté 300 was a four-engined flying boat of all-metal construction. As usual in that time the wings and tailplanes were covered with fabric. The new postal flying boat was fitted with four in-line engines housed in two engine nacelles at the wing centre section. The engine pairs were mounted in a tandem position driving a tractor and pusher 3-bladed propeller. The parasol-type wing had a large surface and was connected with a number of struts with low-mounted sponsons. The hull was fitted with luxury sleeping and dining accommodation for the crew of four. For trans-ocean flights it could carry in total a load of 1000 kg. The building started on 13 nov 1931 and works ran very quickly as on 17 December of the same year, the plane was ready for water taxiing trials, at the Biscarrosse’s lake. Unfortunatly, the plane took the air by itself then stalled and it crashed into the water, breaking itself in two parts before the coast of Marseille. The plane was recovered, re-engineered to correct the too rearward centre of gravity and have a new design of the step. It was put into service on 31 December 1933 at Air France carrying the new civil registration F-AKGF. and the name ‘Croix du Sud’ . The Laté 300 made a total of 15 transatlantic flights, but vanished without a trace on its last flight on 7 December 1936 with the well-know pilot Jean Mermoz at the controls.

Air France had meanwhile ordered an additional three of these large flying boats to expand their transatlantic routes. They were slightly different from the original Laté 300 and received the new type designation Latécoère 301. The first of them made its maiden flight on 23 August 1935 carrying the civil registration F-AIOK and the name ‘Orion’. The other two Laté 301′s carried the registrations and names F- AIOL ‘Eridor’ and F-AIOM ‘Nadir’. When put into service, ‘Orion’ was renamed ‘Ville de Buenos Aires’ while ‘Eridan’ and ‘Nadir’ received the new names ‘Ville de Rio de Janeiro’ and ‘Ville de Santiago du Chili’. F-AIOK was lost on sea a month after it was out into service on the Dakar-Natal route, but the other two were used until the outbreak of the war in 1939. ‘Ville de Rio de Janeiro’ was stocked in an Air France hangar in Dakar, but never flew again (used for spare parts for the 301/302 aircrafts). The remaining ‘Ville de Santiago du Chile’ went into service as the ‘de l’Orza’ at the Escadrille E4 of the Aéronavale in 1939 after military equipment was installed.

The Aéronavale ordered another three of these flying boats for long-range ocean patrol service as the Laté 302. For military uses they were fitted with five machine guns and had the possibility to carry a bomb load of 250 kg. The Laté 302 was also fitted with more powerful Hispano-Suiza 12Ydrs2 engines of 930 hp each. They were put into service at Escadrille E4 at Berre naval air station receiving the names ‘Guilbaud’, ‘Cuverville’ and ‘Mouneyrès’. but were mostly based at Dakar. After the German occupation, all flying came to a stop within a year, mainly due to problem with the cover fabrics. The Laté’s were eventually scrapped.

Technical details (Laté 300):

Power plants: four Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr 12-cylinder liquid-cooled in-line engines of 650 hp each
Dimensions: wingspan 44.20 m
length 25.83 m
height 6.39 m
wing area 260 m2 + 46,7 m2 of sponsons
Weights: empty 11 723 kg / 11 300 kg
all-up loaded 22 925 kg
Performances: max. speed 220 km/h
range 4450 km / 4800 km
service ceiling 4600 m

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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