GL.30 | |
---|---|
Gourdou-Leseurre GL-32 (LGL.32) | |
Role | Fighter |
National origin | France |
Manufacturer | Gourdou-Leseurre |
First flight | 1920 |
Primary users | Aéronautique Militaire Aéronautique Maritime |
Number built | >500 |
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL.30 was a racing aircraft built in France in 1920 which formed the basis for a highly successful family of fighter aircraft based on the same design.
The GL-30 was a parasol-wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage and a Bristol Jupiter engine. Like most of Gordou-Lesserre's earlier aircraft, it was a parasol wing design but its planform was trapezoidal rather than rectangular. In 1923 it flew the Coupe Beaumont course at an impressive 360 km/h (220 mph; 190 kn). The GL.30 was the basis of a new fighter, the GL.31, which had a greater span, almost double the wing area, a fixed undercarriage, and a Gnome-Rhône 9A engine. It was armed with four machine guns, two in the forward fuselage and two in the wings. The GL. 31 was not flown until 1926 and then abandoned, overtaken by the GL.32, the company's entry in a 1923 Aéronautique Militaire competition to select a new fighter. It returned to a rectangular plan wing.
By the time this prototype flew, the Gourdou-Leseurre had been acquired by Loire, and therefore the new aircraft was entered as the LGL.32. Placed second in the trials, the type's performance was impressive enough to still result in an order in January 1927 for a small batch of aircraft - five evaluation aircraft and 20 preproduction machines. Eventually, 475 of this basic version, dubbed LGL.32C.1 in service, would be ordered by the Aéronautique Militaire and 15 more by the Aéronautique Maritime . Romania ordered a further 50 aircraft of the same design as the examples in French service, Turkey ordered 12 (these designated LGL.32-T) and another one may have been purchased by Japan.
In French service, development turned from fighters to adapting the aircraft as a carrier-borne dive bomber. These featured general strengthening of the airframe, divided main undercarriage units, and a "fork" under the fuselage able to release a 50 kg (110 lb) bomb from under the fuselage while avoiding hitting the propeller.
While prolific, the GL.32 was not long-lasting, and attrition took a heavy toll on them. By 1934, all remaining examples were relegated to training and as instructional airframes; at the start of 1936, only 135 remained of the original 380 purchased. A number of these were sold to the government of the Second Spanish Republic and to the autonomous Basque Government. Another aircraft was supplied to the Basques in 1937, modified as a dive bomber along the lines of the previous French experiments. Designated the GL.633, this aircraft was used by Miguel Zambudio to attack the Nationalist battleship España, scoring decisive hits that contributed substantially to her subsequent sinking.
Data from 'Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related lists
The Amiot 143 was a late 1930s French 5-seat Multiplace de Combat (M.5) designed to meet 1928 specifications for a monoplane capable of day and night bombing, long-range reconnaissance and bomber escort.
The Bloch MB.210 and MB.211 were the successors of the French Bloch MB.200 bomber developed by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch in the 1930s and differed primarily in being low wing monoplanes rather than high wing monoplanes.
The Bloch MB.170 and its derivatives were French reconnaissance bombers designed and built shortly before the Second World War. They were the best aircraft of this type available to the Armée de l'Air at the outbreak of the war, with speed, altitude and manoeuvrability that allowed them to evade interception by the German fighters. Although the aircraft could have been in service by 1937, debate over what role to give the aircraft delayed deliveries until 1940.
The Farman F.220 and its derivatives were thick-sectioned, high-winged, four engined monoplanes from Farman Aviation Works. Based on the push-pull configuration proven by the F.211, design started in August 1925 and the first flight of the prototype was on 26 May 1932. The definitive F.222 variant was the biggest bomber to serve in France between the world wars. One variant was designed as an airliner.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL.2 was a French fighter aircraft which made its maiden flight in 1918.
The Bréguet 390T, 392T and 393T were a family of French propeller-driven sesquiplane airliners of the mid-1930s.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-812 HY was a 3-seat reconnaissance floatplane, built by Gourdou-Leseurre.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY was a 1930s French light shipboard reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Gourdou-Leseurre for the French Navy.
The Gourdou-Leseurre Type A, retrospectively named the GL.1, was a prototype fighter aircraft built in France in 1918. It was a conventional parasol-wing monoplane with fixed tailskid undercarriage, with main units connected by a cross-axle. The pilot sat in an open cockpit. Construction was of fabric-covered wood and steel. Initial flight testing revealed performance superior to most contemporary biplane fighters and led to an order of 100 aircraft being placed. However, further tests suggested that the aircraft structure could be considerably lightened, and that the wing needed to be stiffened, leading to a cancellation of the order.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD.29 was a French single-seat biplane fighter designed and built by Nieuport-Delage for the French Air Force.
The Renard Epervier was a Belgian prototype single-seat all-metal fighter monoplane designed by Alfred Renard at the Societé Anonyme Avions et Moteurs Renard for a government-sponsored design contest in 1928. The Epervier Type 2 was built and flown in 1928, by Belgian aircraft manufacturer Stampe et Vertongen. It carried an armament of two synchronised 7.7mm guns and was lost in September 1928 after failing to recover from a flat spin. A second prototype, the Epervier Type 2bis, introduced revised streamlined fairings for the cantilever mainwheel legs, mainwheel spats and cylinder aft-fairings and was built by SABCA.
The SNCASE SE.100 was a French two-seat, twin-engined fighter that first flew in 1939. Mass production was planned to begin late in 1940 but the Fall of France prevented this.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL.50, also known as the Gourdou-Leseurre Type F, was a French fighter prototype of the early 1920s.
The Latécoère 290 was a torpedo bomber floatplane produced in France during the 1930s. Designed by Latécoère in response to an Aéronavale specification for such an aircraft, the 290 was based on its successful Laté 28.3 mail plane. It was a conventional high-wing, strut-braced monoplane that carried a single torpedo externally under the fuselage.
The Levasseur PL.10 was a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft developed in France in the late 1920s. It was a conventional, single-bay biplane along similar lines to Levasseur's contemporary designs for the French navy, including a watertight, boat-shaped fuselage, small underwing floats, and undercarriage that could be jettisoned in flight in order to improve the changes of a successful ditching.
The Lioré et Olivier LeO 25 was a bomber aircraft produced in France in the late 1920s.
The Villiers II was a French two-seat fighter aircraft of the 1920s intended for operation from the Aircraft carrier Béarn of the French Navy. It was a single-engined tractor biplane with a waterproof hull in the form of a flying boat to allow the aircraft to be safely landed on water in an emergency. Two prototypes and 30 production aircraft were built, the type serving briefly with the French Navy, although never operated from an aircraft carrier.
The Bréguet 482 was a French four-engined heavy bomber aircraft designed just prior to the outbreak of the Second World War with two prototypes nearing completion when Germany invaded France in 1940, one of which was flown after the end of the war as an experimental platform.
The Hanriot HD.15 was a French two seat fighter aircraft fitted with a supercharger for good high altitude performance, built in the 1920s. Three were ordered by Japan but lost at sea during delivery.
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-820 HY family of four-seat single-engined floatplanes were designed and built in France during the latter half of the 1930s by Gourdou-Leseurre. The GL-820 HY and GL-821 HY 02 were shipborne reconnaissance / observation aircraft, while the sole GL-821 HY was built as a torpedo carrier.