Let Let Let – Warplanes

Potez 452

Based on the requirements for a small two-seat all-metal observation flying boat with folding wings for shipboard use, Henri Potez designed and built in the early thirties the Potez 450. It was a parasol plane with a carefully designed two-step hull with the engine fitted in a streamlined nacelle fitted with a NACA cowling in the centre of the wing leading edge. Powered by a 230 hp Salmson 9Ab radial air-cooled engine it made its first flight from Berre lake in April 1932.

After some small modifications it was delivered to St. Rafael naval airbase for official testing together with a number of competing designs from other companies. Fitted with a more powerful Hispano-Suiza 9Qd engine a small batch of 17 was ordered for operational use as the Potez 452. They were all manufactured at the C.A.M.S. works at Sartrouville. The Potez 452 was used operationally on board of the cruisers Jeanne de Vienne and Lamotte-Piquet. Later they were also stationed on other warships. At the outbreak of the war with Germany, a few of these flying boats were still operational and the last one served even until November 1942. Also the Spanish navy was before the war interested in the Potez 452 which resulted in a manufacturing licence acquired by the Spanish government but eventually none were built.

Because the Potez 452 had excellent flying characteristics with a very good manoeuvrability, the Potez team even designed a single-seat shipboard fighter version as the Potez 453. Fitted with a much more powerful engine, the Hispano-Suiza 14Hbs of 720 hp, and two fixed forward firing MAC machine guns of 7.5 mm, it made its first flight on 14 September 1935. The Potez 453 was a very agile machine with for its time a high maximum speed of 318 km/h but in spite of its good performances, it was not further used and only one single prototype was built.

Technical details (Potez 452):

Power plants: 1 Hispano-Suiza 9Qd 9-cylinder radial air-cooled engine of 350 hp
Dimensions: wingspan 13.00 m
length 10.03 m
height 3.26 m
wing area 24.30 m2
Weights: empty 1059 kg
all-up loaded 1500 kg
Performances: max. speed 217 km/h at 2000 m
range 500 km
service ceiling 6500 m
Equipment: one rearward firing Darne 7.5 mm flexible-mounted machine gun in the second seat

Blériot 5190 ‘Santos-Dumont’
(in memory of the Blériot’s great friend died just weeks before the study of 5190 started)

Under type number 5190 Louis Blériot designed in the early thirties a large 4-engined flying boat for transatlantic mail transport. Further it could be used with less fuel for passenger transport for flights in the Mediterranean’s. Blériot’s design was quite unusual with a sleek fuselage with a thick pylon for cockpit and crew cabin in the centre section supporting a large strutted wing. The four engines were placed in an unusual position with a central nacelle housing two engines with a pusher and tractor propeller and a further two engines placed on the leading edge of the wings. The Type 5190 made its first flight on 3 August 1933, flown by Lucien Bossoutrot. It was christened with the name Santos-Dumont.

The Blériot 5190 showed to have excellent flight characteristics but in spite of this it was not put onto production and only one was built which was used operationally by Air France for transatlantic mail flights in 1935. Originally three additional 5190’s were ordered, but these machines were suddenly cancelled (without a even a proper explanation from the government!) which finally resulted in the bankruptcy of the Blériot firm. Louis Blériot died on 1 August 1936 because of a heart attack. In total the first machine made over a two year period 38 transatlantic flights carrying the civil registration F-ANLE.

The Type 5190 could carry during transatlantic flights a load of only 600 kg with a fuel supply of 8500 kg with a crew of eight. For shorter flights in the Mediterranean it was planned to carry up to 60 passengers, although it was never used for this.

Technical details:

Power plants: four Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr liquid-cooled in-line engines of 650 hp each
Dimensions: wingspan 43.00 m
length 26.00 m
height 6.90 m
wing area 236.0 m2
Weights: empty 12,750 kg
all-up loaded 22,000 kg
Performances: max. speed 210 km/h
range 5000 km m
service ceiling 5100 m

Breguet Br.521 Bizerte

Bases on the British Short Calcutta and Rangoon biplane flying boats Breguet constructed the Br.521 Bizerte as a long range flying boat for the French navy. Most striking difference with the Short products was a different tail layout with a large rectangular vertical stabilizer. The all-metal Bizerte was also fitted with engines of French origin. The Br.521.01 made its first flight on 11 September 1933 from Le Havre. After extensive flight testing and after the engines were fitted with new NACA cowlings it was put into service on 1 April 1935 at Cherbourg. The French navy placed several small production orders over the next years with in total 29 supplied including the first one. All the production Bizertes had an extended greenhouse type cockpit compartment running over the full length of the nose where the original nose gun position of the first machine was not further used. After the capitulation of France the Bizerte stayed in service at the Vichy forces. Also the Luftwaffe used a number of Bizerte flying boats for air-sea rescue missions.

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

Pages: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12