Potez 25 (also written as Potez XXV) was a French twin-seat, single-engine sesquiplane designed during the 1920s. A multi-purpose fighter-bomber, it was designed as a line aircraft and used in a variety of roles, including fighter and escort missions, tactical bombing and reconnaissance missions. In the late 1920s and early 1930s, Potez 25 was the standard multi-purpose aircraft of over 20 air forces, including French and Polish. It was also popular among private operators, notably mail transport companies.
The aircraft was further developed into the 25M, a standard parasol-wingmonoplane, which never entered production.
Design and development
In 1923, the Avions Henry Potez aircraft works started production of a successful Potez 15 reconnaissance biplane. Basing on experience gathered during the construction of that aircraft, Henry Potez started working on a new design of a heavier and faster multi-purpose aircraft. Designated Potez XXV or Potez 25, the prototype was built already in 1924. The main differences included a larger, more powerful engine and a new wing design. Instead of a classic biplane, Potez introduced a sesquiplane, with the lower wing significantly smaller. It was built in two main military variants: Potez 25A2 reconnaissance aircraft and Potez 25B2 bomber-reconnaissance aircraft.
In May 1925, the prototype was tested at the Service Technique d'Aeronautique Institute and was found a promising construction both for its manoeuvrability, speed and durability. Following the tests, the prototype entered serial production. To promote the new aircraft abroad, in a post-World War I market filled with hundreds of cheap demobilized aircraft, the Potez 25 was entered into a large number of races. Among the best-known achievements was a European rally (7,400km/4,598mi) and a Mediterranean rally (6,500km/4,039mi), both won by pilots flying the Potez. In 1920s, the Potez 25 was also used in a well-advertised Paris-Tehran rally (13,080km/8,127mi). In June 1930, Henri Guillaumet crashed with his Potez 25 in the Andes during an air mail flight. He survived after trekking through the mountains and was found after one week of searching.
Such achievements added to aircraft's popularity and made it one of the most successful French aircraft of the epoch. It was bought by a number of air forces, including those of France, Switzerland, Belgium, Brazil, Croatia, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, Greece, Spain, Japan, Yugoslavia, Paraguay, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Turkey and the USSR. After the USSR acquired two aircraft for testing, they decided against further purchases, finding it comparable to the native Polikarpov R-5. Altogether, approximately 2,500 aircraft were built in France.
Already in 1925, Poland bought a licence for Potez 25 and started to manufacture them in Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS, 150 built) and Plage i Laśkiewicz aircraft works (150 built). In 1928 the first Polish-built Potez 25 were tested by the Technical Aviation Development Institute in Warsaw and the design was slightly modified to better fit the needs of the Polish air forces. Among the notable differences were the introduction of leading edge slots. The production in Poland ceased in 1932. Altogether, 300 aircraft were built in a number of versions for long- and short-range reconnaissance and daylight tactical bombing. As the original Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb engine was unavailable in Poland, it was replaced in 47 aircraft with a more powerful PZL Bristol Jupiter VIIFradial engine, starting from 1936.
In Romania, Potez 25 was produced by IAR. Several other countries manufactured Potez 25s under licence.
Variants
Potez 25
One prototype aircraft, powered by a 336kW (451hp)Hispano-Suiza 12Ga W-12 engine.[1]
Production version, powered by a 373kW (500hp)Renault 12Jb, 100 built.
Potez 25.8
A reconnaissance-bomber powered by a single 370kW (500hp)Farman 12Wc W-12 engine, several dozen of which were built.[2]
Potez 25.12
Reconnaissance aircraft, approximately 280 built, powered by 390kW (520hp)Salmson 18Cmb 18 cyl. 9-bank in-line radial engines, (9 pairs of cylinders one behind the other, not staggered).[3]
Potez 25.23
A single P-25.12, (n°71), modified for a tour of europe from 14 to 22 September 1928.[4]
Potez 25.35
Two-seat target-tug version.
Potez 25.36
Two-seat monoplane version
Potez 25.44
A reconnaissance-bomber powered by a single 370kW (500hp)Renault 12Jb V-12 engine, 74 of which were built.[5]
Two-seat intermediate training version, powered by a 373kW (500hp)Salmson 18Ab radial engine.
Potez 25 Farman
Two-seat observation version for the French Air Force, powered by a 373kW (500hp)Farman 12We. Also known as the Potez 25/4. 12 built.
Potez 25GR
Long-range version, powered by 340kW (450hp)Lorraine 12Eb W-12 engines.[7]
Potez 25 'Jupiter'
Export version, powered by a 313kW (420hp)Gnome-Rhône 9Ac Jupiter radial. Built under licence by Ikarbus in Yugoslavia and OGMA in Portugal, exported to Estonia and Switzerland.[7]
one Hispano-Suiza powered aircraft was converted into a parasol-wing monoplane.
Potez 25 O photo from L'Aéronautique January,1926
Potez 25-O
Specially strengthened and modified version, built for a non-stop North-Atlantic crossing. The aircraft was powered by a Jupiter radial, fitted with jettisonable landing gear and a strengthened landing skid. Only two were built.
Potez 25TOE
Major production version, 795 built, powered by 340kW (450hp)Lorraine 12Eb W-12 engines.[8]
A Clerget 14F diesel aircraft engine preserved at the Conservatoire de l'Air et de l'Espace d’Aquitaine
Potez 25 engine test bed
A single Potez 25 was used to test a Clerget 14F-01 14-cylinder, two-row radial diesel engine. This aircraft, complete with diesel engine was probably the aircraft exported to Japan which became the Potez CXP1 of the Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service (IJNAS).
The Breguet 19 was a sesquiplane bomber and reconnaissance aircraft which was also used for long-distance flights and was designed by the French Breguet company and produced from 1924.
The Farman F.220 and its derivatives were thick-sectioned, high-winged, four engined French 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 largest bomber to serve in France between the two world wars was the final F.222 variant. One variation was intended to be an airliner.
The Bernard 190 or Bernard-Hubert 190 was a French airliner of 1928. It was a high-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration, based on the Bernard 18. Compared with its predecessor, it kept the same basic design but featured redesigned tail surfaces, an enlarged cabin, and offered its flight crew a completely enclosed cockpit. Also like its predecessor, the basic airliner model provided the basis for a long-range aircraft to be used in record attempts, the 191GR.
The Blériot-SPAD S.61 was a French fighter aircraft developed in 1923. Designed by André Herbemont, the S.61 was a conventional biplane, abandoning the swept upper wing used by Herbemont in several previous designs. The prototype S.61 was evaluated by the French Air Force alongside the S.51 as a potential new fighter, but like its stablemate, was rejected. The Polish Air Force was impressed enough to order 250, as well as purchase licences for local production. The Romanian Air Force also ordered 100 aircraft. About 30 were built in Poland, by the CWL.
The CAMS 55 was a reconnaissance flying boat built in France in the late 1920s which equipped the French Navy throughout the 1930s.
The Potez 540 was a French multi-role aircraft of the 1930s. Designed and built by Potez, it served with the French Air Force as a reconnaissance bomber, also serving with the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War. Although obsolete as a bomber, it remained in service in support roles and in France's overseas colonies at the start of World War II.
The Nieuport-Delage NiD.62 was a French sesquiplane fighter from the early 1930s. This machine was a descendant of a long line of Nieuport-Delage fighters that were designed and built during the years immediately after World War I. The NiD.62 was built in 1931 as a fighter for the Armée de l'Air. It served until the late 1930s, when it was replaced by more modern monoplane fighters. By the time of the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, all of the NiD.62s had been withdrawn from front-line fighter escadrilles but were used as trainers in French flight schools. A few aircraft were employed as target tugs. After the French German Armistice and German occupation of North and West part of France in June 1940, the German Luftwaffe had no interest in the NiD.62s and they were scrapped. None survived the war.
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The Farman F.190 was a utility aircraft built in France in the 1920s and 1930s. It was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane of conventional configuration with a fully enclosed cabin and fixed, tailskid undercarriage. Popular both as a private aircraft and in the air taxi role, some 30 examples were also operated by airlines in France and elsewhere in Europe. Fifteen of these joined Air France's fleet in 1933 from the fleets of the smaller airlines it had absorbed.
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The Lioré et Olivier H-190 was a biplane flying boat aircraft designed and produced by the French aircraft manufacturer Lioré et Olivier.
The Potez X was a French 1920s general-purpose colonial transport aircraft designed and built by Potez.
The Romano R.90 was a prototype single-seat French floatplane fighter of the 1930s. A single example of the R.90 was built, but the type did form the basis of the Romano R.83 and Romano R.92 fighters which were built in secret for the Spanish Republicans during the Spanish Civil War.
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The Hanriot H.34 was a basic trainer designed in France in 1924 which did not reach production. It was a parasol wing aircraft, seating two in tandem.
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.
References
Citations
1 2 Parmentier, Bruno (3 December 2000). "Potez 25". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (7 July 2011). "Potez 25.8". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (24 March 2008). "Potez 25.12". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (24 March 2008). "Potez 25.23". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (24 March 2008). "Potez 25.44". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (24 March 2008). "Potez 25.47". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
1 2 Parmentier, Bruno (25 November 2007). "Potez 25 G.R."Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
↑ Parmentier, Bruno (24 March 2008). "Potez 25 TOE". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 23 December 2019.
Andersson, Leonart (2008). A history of Chinese aviation:encyclopedia of aircraft and aviation in China until 1949. Taipei: AHS of ROC. ISBN978-9572853337.
Benichou, Michel (September 1979). "Potez 25 (2): la prolifique famille du biplan vainqueur des Andes faisait les beaux jours de notre armée de l'Air" [Potez 25, Part 2: The Prolific Family of the Biplane Vanquisher of the Andes was the Heyday of our Air Force]. Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No.118. pp.48–52. ISSN0757-4169.
Cortet, Pierre (1996). Le Potez 25 (in French). Boulogne sur Mer: Lela Presse. ISBN978-2950948502.
Gerdessen, Frederik. "Estonian Air Power 1918 – 1945". Air Enthusiast, No. 18, April – July 1982. pp.61–76. ISSN0143-5450.
Heinonen, Timo (1992). Thulinista Hornetiin – 75 vuotta Suomen ilmavoimien lentokoneita (in Finnish). Tikkakoski: Keski-Suomen ilmailumuseo. ISBN951-9568824.
Joux, Joseph de (August 1979). "Potez 25 sur les Andes (1)" [The Potez 25 over the Andes, Part 1]. Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No.117. pp.46–51. ISSN0757-4169.
Kotelnikov, V.; Kulikov, V. & Cony, C. (December 2001). "Les avions français en URSS, 1921–1941" [French Aircraft in the USSR, 1921–1941]. Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French). No.105. pp.50–56. ISSN1243-8650.
Morareau, Lucien (December 1991). "Les Potez 25 de la Marine". Le Fana de l'Aviation (in French). No.265. pp.18–23.
Niccoli, Riccardo (January–February 1998). "Atlantic Sentinels: The Portuguese Air Force Since 1912". Air Enthusiast. No.73. pp.20–35. ISSN0143-5450.
Young, Edward M. (1984). "France's Forgotten Air War". Air Enthusiast. No.25. pp.22–33. ISSN0143-5450.
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