SNCAO 700

Last updated
CAO.700
Role Heavy bomber
National origin France
Manufacturer SNCAO
Number built1

The SNCAO CAO.700 [lower-alpha 1] was a French prototype four-engined bomber of all-metal construction, developed shortly prior to and during the Second World War. Only a single example was built, and was on the point of being flown for the first timewhen the surrender of France in June 1940 ended testing and development of the aircraft.

Contents

Design and development

In early 1937 the French Service Technique de l'Aeronautique (or Air Ministry) issued specification A20 for a four-engined heavy bomber to replace the Armée de l'Air 's outdated Farman F.221 and F.221s. [4] [1] SNCAO's design, the CAO.700, was designed by its Saint-Nazaire design team, formerly the design team of Loire-Neuport before the nationalisation of the French aircraft industry. In order to speed design of the aircraft, it used the fuselage of the Loire-Nieuport 10 floatplane, combined with a new wing, while the engine installation was based on that of the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451, with four Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 clockwise-rotating radial engines in close-fitting Mercier cowlings and driving three-bladed Ratier propellers (as used on the starboard wing of the LeO 451). [5]

The aircraft was of all-metal, stressed-skin construction, and had a crew of five. The pilot and co-pilot sat in tandem on the port side of an enclosed cockpit, with a bomb-aimer/navigator in the nose, a dorsal gunner operating a powered cannon-equipped turret aft of the trailing edge of the wing, and a radio operator sitting further aft. Defensive armament was a single flexibly-mounted 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine gun in the nose, operated by the bomb-aimer/navigator, with a further two flexibly-mounted MAC 1934s firing from a ventral position operated by the radio operator and a single 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 autocannon in the dorsal turret. [6] A 5.8 m (19 ft) long bomb bay could carry 3,000 kg (6,600 lb), [1] while auxiliary bomb bays in the wing roots could carry a further four 225 kg (496 lb) bombs. [1] [5]

Operational history

In June 1940, the incomplete prototype was transferred by rail from the factory at Saint-Nazaire to Istres where the aircraft was assembled in preparation for its first flight. [1] [7] On 24 June the prototype was taxiing out to the runway ready to make its maiden flight when news of the Armistice with Germany reached Istres, resulting in the commander of the airfield to order the crew of the CAO.700 to stop taxiing the aircraft and abandon the planned test flight. No further attempts were made to fly the prototype. [1] [8]

Variants

CAO.700 B5
Standard five-man heavy bomber, powered by Gnome-Rhône 14N-49 engines. [1]
CAO.700M
(Marine) Proposed long-range naval reconnaissance aircraft, with up to 18 hour endurance. [9]
CAO.710
Proposed improved heavy bomber with four 980 kW (1,320 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14R engines and increased wingspan. [9]
CAO.720
Proposed pressurised 15-passenger airliner. Work on this airliner derivative was stopped in December 1940 on instructions from Germany, with the Saint-Nazaire factory being ordered to build Arado Ar-196] floatplanes. [9]

Specifications

Data from Warplanes of the Second World War: Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft: Volume Seven [9]

General characteristics

Performance

Armament

See also

Related development
Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amiot 354</span> Type of aircraft

The Amiot 354 was the last in a series of fast, twin-engine bombers which fought with the French Air Force in limited numbers during the Battle of France.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloch MB.131</span> 1938 bomber aircraft model by Marcel Bloch

The Bloch MB.130 and its derivatives were a series of French monoplane reconnaissance-bombers developed during the 1930s. They saw some limited action at the beginning of World War II but were obsolete by that time and suffered badly against the Luftwaffe. After the fall of France, a few were pressed into Luftwaffe service.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloch MB.210</span> 1934 bomber aircraft family by Avions Marcel Bloch

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloch MB.170</span> 1938 bomber aircraft family by Avion Marcel Bloch

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloch MB.162</span> 1940s French bomber aircraft

The Bloch MB.162 was a French four-engine, long-range bomber developed by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch in the late 1930s. Only a single prototype was built; after capture by German forces, it was pressed into service with the Luftwaffe as a transport.

The Gotha Go 244 was a transport aircraft used by the Luftwaffe during World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman F.220</span> Type of aircraft

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.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.46 Sum</span> Type of aircraft

PZL.46 Sum (sheatfish) was a light bomber of the Polish Air Force before World War II, which, was directed to serial production in the spring of 1939. These planes were in production, but the Polish industry did not manage to produce them before the outbreak of the war.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lioré et Olivier LeO 45</span> Type of aircraft

Lioré-et-Olivier LeO 45 was a French medium bomber that was used during and after the Second World War. It had been designed for the new Armée de l'air as a modern medium bomber capable of performing independent strategic operations, unlike the majority of previous French bombers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL.43</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL.43 was a Polish light bomber and reconnaissance aircraft designed in the mid-1930s by PZL in Warsaw. It was an export development of the PZL.23 Karaś. Its main user was the Bulgarian Airforce who called it the Chaika.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gnome-Rhône 14N</span> 1930s French piston aircraft engine

The Gnome-Rhône 14N was a 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine designed and manufactured by Gnome-Rhône just before the start of World War II. A development of the Gnome-Rhône 14K, the 14N was used on several French and even one German aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bloch MB.220</span> Type of aircraft

The Bloch MB.220 was a French twin-engine passenger transport airplane built by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch during the 1930s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Potez 62</span> 1930s French airliner

The Potez 62 was a French twin-engine civil airliner, designed by Henry Potez in 1934. The French military adapted this airframe two-years later to create the Potez 650.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bréguet 730</span> Type of aircraft

The Bréguet 730 was a French flying boat of the 1930s. Built to meet the requirements of the French Navy, it was ordered into production but no aircraft were delivered before France surrendered to Germany in June 1940. Four remaining incomplete airframes were completed after the end of World War II, serving with the French Navy until 1954.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Farman NC.470</span> Type of aircraft

The Farman NC.470 was a French twin-engined floatplane designed as a crew trainer for the French Navy. It was used in small numbers for both its intended role as a trainer and as a coastal reconnaissance aircraft at the start of World War II.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Loire-Nieuport 10</span> Type of aircraft

The Loire-Nieuport 10 was a 1930s French prototype long-range maritime reconnaissance and combat floatplane produced by Loire-Nieuport, a joint venture between Loire Aviation and Nieuport-Delage. It was an attempt to answer the requirements for the Navy's programme Hydravion éclaireur de combat for a large floatplane capable of acting as a torpedo bomber or reconnaissance aircraft.

The Bloch MB.480 was a French twin-engined torpedo-bomber/reconnaissance floatplane designed just before the start of the Second World War by Société des Avions Marcel Bloch. Only two were built, the French Navy deciding to use landplanes instead.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SNCAO CAO.600</span> Type of aircraft

The SNCAO CAO.600 was a French prototype twin-engined torpedo-bomber of the Second World War. It was intended to operate from two new aircraft carriers of the French Navy, but only a single example had been completed and flown when the surrender of France in June 1940 ended development of the aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bréguet 460 Vultur</span> Type of aircraft

The Bréguet 460 Vultur was a French bomber of the 1930s. Few of these twin-engined monoplanes and its variant, the Breguet 462 Bréguet , were built. At least one Breguet 460 was sold to the Spanish Republican Air Force during the Spanish Civil War.

The Potez 220 was a prototype French twin-engined, three-seat reconnaissance and army cooperation aircraft. Two examples were built in 1939, but no production followed.

References

  1. Sometimes written CAO-700 [1] or CAO 700 [2] [3]

Further reading