Potez 220

Last updated
Potez 220
Role Reconnaissance aircraft
National origin France
ManufacturerSociété Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (SNCAN)
First flight7 April 1939
StatusPrototype
Number built2

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.

Reconnaissance aircraft Aircraft designed to observe enemy forces and facilities and maintain area surveillance

A reconnaissance aircraft is a military surveillance aircraft designed or adapted to perform aerial reconnaissance with roles including collection of imagery intelligence, signals intelligence, as well as measurement and signature intelligence. Modern technology has also enabled some aircraft and UAVs to carry out real-time surveillance in addition to general intelligence gathering.

The army cooperation aircraft was an inter-war concept of an aircraft capable of support of ground units in a variety of roles. Army cooperation planes combined the roles of artillery spotter aircraft, liaison, reconnaissance plane and close air support.

Contents

Design and development

On 6 February 1937, the French air ministry issued specification A.24 for a three-seat reconnaissance and army-cooperation aircraft. [1] To meet this requirement, the nationalised Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (SNCAN), formed in January 1937 from ANF Les Mureaux, Potez, Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine and parts of Breguet and Amiot, [2] gave the task to the design team inherited from Les Mureaux. Their design, the Potez 220 [lower-alpha 1] was a twin-engined monoplane of all metal construction. The fuselage was an oval section monocoque, which accommodated the aircraft's crew of three, consisting of a pilot, a radio operator gunner and an observer, with a glazed gondola slung under the fuselage provided for the observer. It was powered by two 520 kW (700 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14M radial engines driving three-bladed propellers, which were fed from fuel tanks located within the wing. A retractable tailwheel undercarriage was fitted. [4] [5]

SNCAN,, or commonly, Nord, was a state-owned French aircraft manufacturer in the pre- and post-World War II era. The company had been formed as one of six state-owned Société Nationales in the 1936 reorganization of military industries, and was created by the nationalization of several aircraft factories in the north of France. It survived until 1954 when it merged to form Nord Aviation.

ANF Les Mureaux was a French aircraft manufacturer founded in Les Mureaux in 1918 as Les Ateliers des Mureaux building aircraft under license. Significant products included Vickers Vimys and Breguet 14s during the 1920s. Under head designer André Brunet, it also produced a few original parasol-winged monoplanes that eventually led to the firm's greatest success, the 113 military reconnaissance aircraft of 1931 and its derivatives.

Potez was a French aircraft manufacturer founded as Aéroplanes Henry Potez by Henry Potez at Aubervilliers in 1919. The firm began by refurbishing war-surplus SEA IV aircraft, but was soon building new examples of an improved version, the Potez SEA VII.

The first prototype made its maiden flight at Sartrouville on 7 April 1939, with the second prototype following on 20 October that year. Performance was slightly better than the Potez 63.11 which had recently entered production in the reconnaissance role, while orders had also been placed for the much more powerful and better performing Bloch 174 and Martin 167F aircraft to meet the same requirement as the Potez 220. Development of the type was therefore abandoned. [6]

Sartrouville Commune in Île-de-France, France

Sartrouville is a commune in the Yvelines department in the Île-de-France in north-central France. it is located in the north-western suburbs of Paris, 17.1 km (10.6 mi) from the center of Paris.

Martin Maryland American-designed WW2 light bomber

The Martin Model 167 was an American-designed light bomber that first flew in 1939. It saw action in World War II with France and the United Kingdom, where they later named it the Maryland.

Specifications

Data from War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Eight: Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft [7]

General characteristics

Gnome-Rhône 14M

The Gnome-Rhône 14M was a small 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine that was used on several French and German aircraft of World War II.

Radial engine reciprocating engine with cylinders arranged radially from a single crankshaft

The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is called a "star engine" in some languages. The radial configuration was commonly used for aircraft engines before gas turbine engines became predominant.

Performance

Armament

The MAC 1934 is a machine gun of French origin. It is basically the aircraft variant of the Reibel machine gun.

Notes

  1. All SNCAN designs, no matter what part of the conglomerate they originated from, were named as Potez aircraft owing to the prestige associated with the name. The type number was in the Les Mureaux sequence. [1] [3]
  1. 1 2 Green 1967, p. 64.
  2. Gunston 2005, p. 337.
  3. Breffort and Jouineau 2005, p. 80.
  4. Green 1967, pp. 65–66.
  5. Breffort and Jouineau 2005, pp. 80–81.
  6. Green 1967, pp. 64, 66.
  7. Green 1965, p. 65.

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References