Need some french ww2 multirole fighters

[AR90]

Hello everybody. I'm a fan of this forum using it for years but this is my first post here.

I'm making a ww2 airplane game.

I'm looking for some "single engine" french ww2 plane for the french branch. Any concept, prototype, never build plane is acceptable.

For example for uk it's: hawker hurrican,tornado, typhoon, tempest
For germany, usa, italy, japan, ussr,... I have a lot of options but france...

If you know any french single engine project that could be used as multirole fighter (capable of carring bombs, rockets or high calibre cannons) please tell me.

 

[Justo Miranda]

France (10 May to 25 June 1940)​

The best fighter in the world in 1937 was French. The airplane, named Morane-Saulnier M.S.405, was a single-engine, single-seat, low wing monoplane with retractable undercarriage and closed cockpit.

The production model M.S.406 C.1 of 1939 was armed with a 20 mm gun (a secret weapon at that time) firing through the propeller hub, capable of shooting any German bombers in service. It also possessed enough speed and manoeuvrability to face the Bf 109 B, C and D of the Luftwaffe using its MAC machine guns.

During the Phoney War (3 September 1939 to 10 May 1940) the M.S.406 made 10,119 combat missions destroying 81 German airplanes. The appearance of the Bf 109 E over the French skies on 21 September 1939, amounted to a technological advantage that gave the aerial superiority to Germans at the critical moment of the Blitzkrieg offensive in May 1940.

The French answer was an improved version of the M.S.406, the M.S.410, that was externally different from the M.S.406 by having four guns in the wings, a fixed cooler, increased armour, a more inclined windshield (to house the GH 38 gunsight), Ratier 1607 electric propeller and Bronzavia propulsive exhaust pipes. It did not arrive on time though and only five 406s were transformed before the defeat.

In 1935 the firm Morane-Saulnier decided to develop a two-seat trainer to facilitate the transition of the pilots from the Dewoitine D.510 to the M.S.405 with retractable landing gear. The first prototype, called M.S.430-01, flew at 360 kph in March 1937, powered by a 390 hp. Salmson 9Ag radial engine. In June 1939 l’Armée de l'Air ordered the production of 60 units under the name M.S.435 P2 (Perfectionnement biplace), powered by a 550 hp Gnôme-Rhône GR 9 Kdrs radial engine, but the acceleration of the production of the M.S.406 and M.S.410 fighters and the acquisition of the North American 57 and 64 trainers in the USA led to the cancellation of the M.S.435.

Foreseeing the possibility of a serious delay in the production of the Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Y-31 engine, the firm considered the construction of M.S.408 C.1 single-seat light fighter, powered by a radial engine GR 9 Kdrs or a Hispano-Suiza 14 Aa-10 armed with only wing mounted MAC 34A machine guns. The prototype M.S.408-01, with 10.71 m wingspan, was built using many parts of the M.S.430 and a Salmson 9 Ag engine, but the increasing availability of the 12Y-31 dismissed its serial production.

On 15 June 1936 l'Armée de l'Air high command published the Chasseur Monoplace C.1 specification, calling for a single-seat fighter capable of flying at 500 kph at an altitude of 4,000 m, reaching 8,000 m. ceiling in less than 15 minutes. Intended to replace the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406, the new fighter should be powered by a 935 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S. 12Y-45, 12-cylinder ‘Vee’ liquid-cooled engine and armed with one cannon and two machine guns.

Upon learning of the performances of the Messerschmitt Bf 109 B-1, that the Germans had started to manufacture in the fall of 1936, the C.1 specification was amended as Program Technique A23 (12 January 1937) calling for 520 kph maximum speed and armament increase to one 20 mm Hispano-Suiza H.S.404 cannon and four 7.5 mm MAC 34 M39 belt-feed machine guns. Four prototypes were produced to fulfil the requirement: The Morane-Saulnier M.S.450, the S.N.A.C.A.O. 200, the Arsenal VG 33 and the Dewoitine D.520.

By January 1938, French intelligence services estimated the Luftwaffe strength at 2,850 modern aircraft, including 850 fighters. In response the Ministère de l'Air issued the Plan V (15 March 1938) to increase the inventory of the Armée de l'Air to 2,617 aircraft, including 1,081 fighters, to equip 32 Groupes de Chasse and 16 Escadrilles Régionales. But on 1 April 1939 l'Armée de l'Air had only 104 M.S.405/406, one Bloch M.B.151 and 42 Curtiss H.75A and none of these fighters reached the 500 kph.

The M.S.450 prototype was an aerodynamically improved version of the M.S.406. It could fly at 560 kph propelled by an 1,100 hp H.S.12 Y-51 engine, but the Ministère de l'Air did not want to interrupt the manufacturing of the M.S.410 and dismissed its production.

The C.A.O. 200 reached the 550 kph with the same engine than the M.S. 406, but its production was also dismissed due to a longitudinal instability revealed during test flights in August 1939. During the Battle of France the prototype participated in the Villacoublay defence, armed with a H.S. 404, managing to shoot down a Heinkel He 111 on 15 June 1940.

The Arsenal VG 30 was designed as a light fighter to fulfil the Chasseur Monoplace C.1 (3 June 1937) specification that called for a small fighter propelled by one 690 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 X crs engine and armed with one 20 mm H.S.9 cannon and two 7.5 mm MAC 34A drum-feed machine guns, from the obsolete Dewoitine D.510 fighters. Anticipating the possibility of a long attrition war, the VG 30 was built in wood/plywood, not to compete with the conventional fighters in the use of strategic materials. It could be manufactured in the third part of the time than an M.S. 406 for 630,000 F, a 75 per cent of the price of a Bloch M.B.152.

On October 1938, the VG 30-01 prototype reached a maximum speed that was 30 kph higher than that of the M.S.406, propelled by a less powerful 180 hp engine. It was estimated that it could fly at 560 kph with the engine of the M.S.406 and the VG 33 prototype, armed with one H.S. 404 and four MAC 34 M39, was built with that purpose.

Fifteen days after the declaration of war on Germany the S.N.C.A. du Nord received a commission for the manufacture of 220 units of the VG 33, later expanded to 500. Deliveries to l’Armée de l’Air should start at the beginning of 1940. But there were problems with the import of spruce from Canada and Romania and only seven planes entered combat between 18 and 25 June 1940, carrying out 36 missions with the GC I/55. The VG 33 outperformed the Bf 109 E-1 in manoeuvrability and fire power and was almost as fast with a less powerful 240 hp engine.

On 20 January 1940, the VG 34-01 prototype reached 590 kph, powered by one H.S.12 Y-45.

In February the VG 35-01 flew powered by a 1,100 hp H.S.12 Y-51 engine and the decision was taken to start the production of the VG 32, propelled by the American engine Allison V-1710 C-15, but only a prototype was eventually built before the German attack. In May, the VG 36-01 flew with a 1,100 hp H.S.12 Y-51. The VG 39-01 flew during the same month, propelled by a 1,200 hp H.S.12 Z reaching the 625 kph.

The first aircraft to fulfil the specifications of the Programme Technique A23 was the prototype Dewoitine D.520-01, exceeding the 520 kph speed on December 1938 and being declared winner of the contest. In June 1939 the Ministère de l'Air made an order of 600 planes, later expanded to 710, that were to be delivered to the l'Armée de l'Air from the beginning of January 1940. Unfortunately for the French the deliveries were delayed by problems with the engine cooling, the freezing of the MAC 34 M 39 machine guns and the pneumatic firing system.

The day of the German attack (10 May 1940) only two-hundred-and-twenty-eight D.520 had been manufactured, 75 out of which had been accepted by the Centre de Réception des Avions de Série (CRAS) and 50 were making their operational conversion into the GC I/3. When the armistice came (25 June 1940) four-hundred-and-thirty-seven D.520 had been manufactured, of which 112 were in the CRAS for armament installation and 105 had been destroyed by different causes, 53 of them in combat.

The D.520 was the only French fighter that faced the Bf 109 E-3 in conditions of equality. That, despite the scant experience of its pilots with the new model and the accidents caused by the HE 20x110 ammunition of the H.S.404 cannon, causing premature explosions within the barrel when firing the second burst. Tests carried out with a Bf 109 captured at the end of 1939 revealed that the D.520 matched its climb rate between 4,000 and 6,000 m (with 190 hp less power) beating the German aircraft in diving, structural strength, manoeuvrability and fire power.

To avoid competing against Morane-Saulnier for the Hispano-Suiza engines, the Marcel Bloch firm chose the Gnome-Rhône Série 14 radial engines to propel its fighters between 1937 and 1942. Its first design, the Bloch M.B.150, was a loser in the Chasseur Monoplace C.1 contest of 1934. However, the publication of Plan V (15 March 1938) allowed the firm to obtain a contract for the manufacture of 140 units of the improved M.B.151 model, powered by a 920 hp Gnôme-Rhône 14N-35.

During the Spanish Civil War, the radial engine fighters proved that they needed a 30 per cent of extra power to fight on equal terms with the in-line engine fighters. The M.B. 151 had 180 hp less than the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E, was 105 kph slower due to the poor aerodynamic design of the engine cowling and was only armed with four 7.5 mm MAC 34A drum-feed machine guns, with 300 rounds each.

On July 1939, after some tests carried out in the Centre d’Expériences at Rheims, the M.B.151 was considered unsuited for first-line duties. l’Armée de l’Air and l’Aéronavale (French naval aviation) mainly used it as advanced trainer at the Centres d’Instruction de Chasse. It was eventually used in combat, four were destroyed and one of them rammed a Fiat C.R.42 of the Regia Aeronautica.

They tried to correct all these deficiencies with the M.B.152, using a 1,100 hp fourteen-cylinder air-cooled Gnôme-Rhône 14N-49, with a new 85 cm diameter cowling, inspired by that of the Curtiss H.75A, driving a variable-pitch Chauvière 371 propeller. Its armament consisted of two H.S.404 cannon and two MAC 34A machine guns installed on the wings. The gunsight reflector was a Baille-Lemaire GH 38.

The new fighter was 88 kph slower than the Bf 109 E-1 in level flight and 50 kph slower in dive but surpassed the German aircraft in firepower and structural strength. Forced to prematurely entering service, the M.B.152 suffered several accidents. The engine caught fire in inverted flight due to of a bad design of the carburettor. The deficient pneumatically-actuated firing system operated the weapons with delay and did not have enough pressure to operate the cannons at an altitude above 7,000 m.

After the German-Soviet non-aggression Pact (23 August 1939) the French communists received order of delaying the weapons production through a program of strikes and coordinated sabotages. The most affected were the Farman and Renault factories that manufactured the only bomber capable of reaching Berlin and the tanks that could surpass those of the Germans. But the biggest damage was the chaos created in the manufacture and distribution of aircraft components.

When the Allies declared war on Germany (3 September 1939) out of the hundred-and-twenty-three Bloch fighters that have been built, ninety-five did not have propellers and half of them had not yet received weapons, radio equipment or gunsights. At the beginning of 1940, delays in the delivery of the Messier landing gear forced the manufacture suspension of fifty-nine M.B.152 fighters. Fearing that the machine guns would fall into the hands of communists, l'Armée de l'Air was in charge of the installation, but the process was slow and required numerous modifications.

The M.B.152 came from factory temporarily equipped with wooden propellers, 14N-25 engines with the old cowling of 100 cm diameter and OPL R-39 gunsights. Faced with a shortage of Chauvière 371 propellers, many were sent to combat with Gnôme-Rhône 2590 propellers (with adjustable pitch in ground only) or armed only with machine guns, due to the delays in the delivery of the H.S.404 cannons.

The replacement of the waste pneumatic firing system by Deltour-Jay electro-pneumatic devices which ensured a more rapid trigger response, caused further delays at the beginning of 1940. On 10 March 1940 there still were fifty Bloch M.B.152 fighters without armament and propellers in the Entrepôt 301 centre. When the German attack came thirty days later, hundred-and-forty M.B.151, three-hundred-and-sixty-three M.B.152, four M.B.155 and one M.B.153, with Twin Wasp engine, had been accepted by l’Armée de l’Air, but only eighty-three of them, considered bons de guerre (combat-ready), had been delivered to the Groupes de Chasse. During the Battle of France, the Bloch fighters shot downed 146 German aircraft, including forty-five Bf 109 fighters. Eighty M.B.152 and four M.B.151 were destroyed for different causes.

Worse still was the availability of the bombers, whose priority was lower than that of the fighters. The delivery of the Amiot 350, Bloch M.B.174 and Breguet 693 bons de guerre to the Groupes de Bombardement suffered from inadequate supplies of the Alkan and Gardy bomb racks and many LeO 45 did not receive the Gnôme-Rhône 2590 propellers in time, being destroyed in land without any opportunity to combat.

Consequence of the disorganization caused by the sabotages, on Armistice Day (25 June 1940) l’Armée de l’Air had 2,348 planes, many more than on the invasion day, even counting losses. Most fell intact in the hands of the Germans.

On 10 May 1940 l’Armée de l’Air had five Escadrilles de Chasse de Nuit with forty-seven Potez 631 night fighters. These aircraft were operating in sectors of the front that were 15 km wide and 20 km deep, helped by searchlights and sound locators, with one control centre positioning the airplanes by using direction finding (D/F) equipment. Depending on conditions of visibility, a night fighter pilot could see an unilluminated bomber from between 400 and 600 m, and between 1,000 and 6,000 when illuminated by searchlights. During the Battle of France, the Potez 63 managed to shoot down three Heinkel He 111 and one Dornier Do 17.

The failure of the M.B.151 and the delays in the delivery of the M.B.152 forced l’Armée de l’Air to maintain various types of obsolete fighters in service. The Dewoitine D.510, that constituted 70 per cent of the French fighter force during the Munich Agreement, still equipped five Groupes de Chasse and two Escadrilles of the Aéronavale (141 aircraft) at the time of the Poland invasion. At the beginning of 1940 two Patrouilles de Défense were still active with 40 aircraft piloted by Poles.

On September 1939 one Escadrille of the Armée de l’Air equipped with Dewoitine D.371 fighters were based in Bizerte-Tunis and the Aéronavale still used thirteen D.373 and D.376 aircraft. When the war started, three Groupes de Chasse, still equipped with Loire 46 fighters, were making the transition to the M.S. 406. By May 1940 twenty-three aircraft were left in various training schools and sixteen in reserve.

Some old biplanes of the Blériot-SPAD 510 type were got back into service in the Grupe Aérien Régional de Chasse at Le Havre-Octeville and in the Centre d’Instruction à la Chasse at Montpellier, being gradually replaced by the Bloch M.B.151.

The force of fighters of the Air Component of the British Expeditionary Force (B.E.F.) were integrated by two squadrons of biplane fighters Gloster Gladiator Mk.I (30 aircraft) and two squadrons of Hawker Hurricane Mk.I and lost most of their aircraft in the first week of combats. The rest were destroyed during the bombardment of the Vitry-en-Artois airfield.

The Advanced Air Striking Force also had two squadrons of Hurricane Mk.I in Belgium, later joined by seven more. During the Battle of France, seventy-five Hurricanes were destroyed in combat, another 120 had to be abandoned to the enemy, due to lack of spares, and only 66 returned to England. The RAF also lost nine Defiant Mk.I fighters on Netherlands and sixty-seven Spitfire Mk.I on Dunkirk.

The 'Panic Effect' caused by the Munich Agreement forced the French Government to carry out large massive purchases of foreign aircraft, initiating talks with the USSR for the acquisition of Polikarpov I-16 fighters, an operation that was cancelled after the German-Soviet non-aggression Pact. They placed orders for two-hundred Curtiss H.75A and hundred Curtiss H.81 (P-40) fighters to the USA and acquired forty Koolhoven FK.58 fighters to the Netherlands together with the license to manufacture them in Nevers-France. One Spitfire Mk.I was also purchased to Great Britain to study the compatibility of its engine with the D.520.

On March 1940 l’Armée de l’Air had 18 serviceable Koolhoven. During the Battle of France they were used to equip four Patrouilles de Défense piloted by Poles. On June 25 ten of them had survived the combats.

The Curtiss H.81 did not arrive in time to prevent the fall of France and they were transferred to the RAF, but the H.75A performed well, fighting on equal terms with the Messerschmitt Bf 109 D during the Phoney War and eluding the attacks of the Bf 109 E during the Battle of France, thanks to its greater manoeuvrability, but its armament of four machine guns proved to be insufficient to destroy German bombers.

 

[Justo Miranda]

During the period between both World Wars, the size and weight of the fighters was progressively augmented in parallel with the increasing power of the available engines. Against that general trend, there was a minority of aeronautical designers defending the small sized fighters, known as 'Jockey Fighters' at that time. This type of airplanes, if well designed, could generally compete in performance with the conventional fighters, using a less powerful engine, with an important save in fuel, manpower and strategic materials. They were also easier to maintain and store and their reduced size and weight helped to increase agility in combat, making more difficult to be seen by the rear gunners in the bombers, or by the pilots in the escort fighters, and their destruction required a higher consumption of ammunition.

At the beginning of World War II, the conventional fighters used to have 10 to 12 m of wingspan, operational weight of 2,500 to 3,500 kg and a maximum speed of 450 to 500 km/h. The light fighters of the time could be divided in two categories:

‘Jockey Fighters’, with less than 10 m. wingspan, maximum weight of 1,800 to 2,500 kg and the same speed than the conventional fighters.

‘Midget Fighters’, with less than 10 m wingspan, maximum weight of 600 to 1,800 kg and maximum speed of 350 to 400 km/h.

Potez 230​

The Potez 230 inherited the most advanced elliptical wing of the time, built with an integral torque box, from its ancestor, Les Mureaux 190 light fighter, developed during the 30s. The philosophy of design of the Potez 230 was based on the specification Chasseur Monoplace C1 (June 3, 1937), calling for one high-performance small airplane that could use some technical elements left aside by first line fighters.

Thus, the surplus of Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Xcrs engines, H.S.9 cannons and MAC 34A machine guns coming from the obsolete Dewoitine D.510 fighters could go back to combat without overloading the French war production of H.S.12 Y-45, H.S.404 and MAC 34 M39, intended for the Dewoitine D.520. Would the new equipment be available in enough quantity, it would also had been used by the Potez 230 as it was compatible to both of them.

A prototype was built in the Potez C.A.M.S. factory of Sartrouville in 1939. During a series of tests performed in the Villacoublay test centre in March 1940, it reached the speed of 560 km/h being equipped with an H.S.12 Xcrs of just 680 hp (the Dewoitine D.520 reached 525 km/h and the Bf 109 E-1, 575 km/h with much more powerful engines). It was expected that the Potez 230 could fly at 622 km/h after the installation of one of the new H.S.12 Y-45 of 910 hp but it was captured by German forces in June and translated to a technical research centre of the Luftwaffe to study the wing construction system.

Technical data

Engine: one 680 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Xcrs twelve-cylinder ‘Vee’ liquid-cooled, driving a three-bladed Ratier airscrew with pneumatic variable-pitch. Armament: one 20 mm engine-mounted H.S.9 cannon and four 7.5 mm. MAC 34A machine guns mounted under the wings. Wingspan: 8.74 m, length: 7.57 m, height: 2.18 m, wing area: 10.97 sq.m, maximum weight: 1,800 kg, maximum speed: 560 kph.

Roussel R.30​

The Roussel R.30 was conceived as a private venture ‘Jockey Fighter’ in answer to the Programme technique A.23 (12 January 1937) that required a light fighter able to fly at 520 km/h. Construction of the prototype began at Courbevoie, flying for the first time equipped with a 690 hp Gnôme-Rhône 14 M7 engine in April 1939.

In August 1939 it was transferred to the Centre d’Essais du Matériel Aérien (C.E.M.A.) for official trials, as a result of which it was recommended to install a more powerful engine to better use its excellent flying performances. During the Battle of France, the airplane was armed with two 20 mm Oerlikon FFS cannons mounted in the wings and some tests were performed for the installation of a bomb rack under the fuselage.

In combat, the R.30 could have destroyed any Luftwaffe bomber thanks to its high fire power of 2 Kg/sec, 2.8 times that of the Bf 109 E-1. In ground attack mode it would have had more possibilities to survive the Flak than the unfortunate Breguet 693 of the GBA 54 due to its high speed and small size. The only prototype was destroyed in Bordeaux-Mérignac airbase during a He111 bomb raid.

Technical data

Engine: one 690 hp Gnôme-Rhône 14 M7 of fourteen-cylinder, air-cooled radial driving a Ratier 1527 airscrew with electrically adjusted pitch. Armament: two 20 mm Oerlikon FFS cannons and one 250 kg G.P. bomb. Wingspan: 7.75 m, length: 6.15 m, height: 2.10 m, wing surface: 10 sq.m, maximum weight: 1,766 kg, maximum speed: 520 kph at 6,000 m.

Bloch M.B.700​

The Bloch M.B.700 was also designed as an answer to the Programme technique A.23. This small interceptor differentiated from the Roussel in that it was built from wood. This fact made its mass production easier as it did not require strategic materials that could be used for the Dewoitine D.520 conventional fighter. Outwardly, it looked like an 83% scaled down version of the conventional fighter Bloch M.B.152. The main advantage of the M.B.700 reduced size was that while equipped with an engine with 75% the power of an M.B.152, it flew 80 kph faster, still carrying the same armament, and was a more difficult target in dog-fight.

In 1939 a prototype was built in the Blériot-Aéronautique of Suresnes, flying for the first time by mid-April 1940. During the flight tests made on 13 May, it reached a maximum speed of just 380 kph, instead of the expected 580 km/h. As a consequence, the Mercier engine cowling and clear canopy were modified, and external plates were installed in the main undercarriage.

The airplane was destroyed shortly afterwards by the German troops in Buc airfield. There was a plan for a shipboard variant named M.B. 720 with tail hook and the armament reduced to four MAC 1934 M 39 machine guns.

Technical data

Engine: one 700 hp Gnôme-Rhône 14 M6 fourteen-cylinder, air-cooled radial engine driving a Gnôme Rhône variable-pitch airscrew. Armament: two 20 mm Hispano-Suiza H.S. 404 cannons and two 7.5 mm MAC 1934 M39 belt-feed machine guns mounted in the wings. Wingspan: 8.9 m, length: 7.34 m, height: 3.4 m, wing surface: 12.4 sq.m, maximum weight: 2,000 kg, maximum speed: 550 kph.

Caudron C.R. 714​

On 12 July 1934 the Service Technique de l’Aéronautique laid down the Programme Technique de Chasseur Léger C.1, a specification for a light weight interceptor with a maximum speed of 400 kph and armed with four machine guns. The original specification was amended in August 22 dividing it in two categories: one for aircraft powered by 800-1,000 hp engines, armed with a cannon and two machine guns, and another for 450-500 hp engines and two cannons. On 17 December 1934 the maximum speed rose to 450 kph and on 16 November 1935 to 500 kph. The winner of the first category was the Morane-Saulnier M.S.405, winning the production of the 860 hp Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Y engines.

In the second category were competing small manufacturers and designers of racer airplanes experienced in obtaining the maximum speed with minimum power, often using self-made engines. The success achieved by the Caudron racers, encourage designer Marcel Riffard to build the C.710 and C.713 prototypes, two wooden, cannon-armed, light fighters capable of flying to 455-470 kph powered by a 450 hp Renault 12 R.01 engine. On December 1937 l’Armée de l’Air dismissed its serial construction in favor of the Arsenal VG 30, much faster and with better climb rate.

On November 1938, to meet the requirements of Plan V, l’Armée de l’Air ordered the production of 200 units of the C.R. 714 model, an aerodynamically improved version, with a 450 hp Renault 12 R.03, twelve-cylinder, air-cooled, inverted-Vee engine and four MAC 1934 M39 machine guns. The order was later reduced to only 20 aircraft when all the spruce stocks were assigned to the massive construction program of the Arsenal VG 33.

On January 1940 the C.R. 714 were handed over to l’Armée de l’Air who used them as advanced trainers at l’École de Chasse et d’Instruction Polonaise. The G.C. I/145 was formed during the Battle of France with M.S. 406 and C.R. 714 fighters piloted by Poles who claimed the destruction of four Bf 109 and four Do 17. The formula was perfectioned with the C.R. 760 and C.R. 770 prototypes, powered by 730-800 hp engines and armed with six MAC, but both were destroyed to prevent their capture by the Germans.

Bugatti 110 C.1​

On September 1937, Louis de Monge designed the Bugatti Model 100, a Monoplace de Course (Single-seat racer) to beat the Germans on their own soil in the Deutsch Cup Race of 1938. Underpowered with one 450 hp Bugatti T50 B engine, it was necessary to use one ultra-sleek highly streamlined airframe with forward swept wings, variable geometry automatic flaps, 120 degree V-tail and retractable landing gear.

To save weight the engine crankcases were made of magnesium and the airframe mostly of wood with sandwiched layers of balsa and tulipwood. Looking to restore national pride after the exhibition made by the Messerschmitt Bf 109 V13 on November 1937, the Ministère de l’Air offered to finance the construction of two special planes to break the world speed records of 634 kph over 100 km and 709 kph over 3 km.

The first, called Bugatti Model 100P (Poussée-boosted) with two 525 hp Bugatti 50P eight-cylinder straight liquid-cooled engines, two drive shafts, one gearbox reduction, two counter-rotating Ratier S.O.B. airscrews, 8.23 m wingspan and 650 kph estimated maximum speed. The second, Model 110P, with two 50P engines boosted to 550 hp, clipped wings with 6.7m wingspan and 750 kph estimated maximum speed. The contract, signed in August 1938 by 6.900.000 F, included two Type 50P spare engines and a bonus of 1.800.000 F if the two records should be broken.

In 1939, the German accepted the 'Propaganda War' making fly the Heinkel He 100 V8 at 746.606 kph on 30 March and the Messerschmitt Me 209 V1 at 755.138 kph on 29 April. The French prototype Dewoitine D.551 tried to overcome that mark on 22 November but could only reach 701.5 kph powered by one H.S.12 Y boosted to 1,300 hp.

At the end of 1939 the French preferred to concentrate its efforts on the production of 'panic fighters'. Anticipating the possibility of a long attrition war, the Ministére de l’Air promoted the construction from wood/plywood of the Arsenal VG 33 and commissioned the design of the Bugatti 110 C.1 (a third-generation fighter of the M.S.460 and D.520T class) with increased wingspan and propelled by one 1,600 hp H.S.12 Z or one 1,500 hp Bugatti T67 sixteen-cylinder ‘Vee’ liquid cooled engine. Production should be made at the new Bugatti factory in Bordeaux.

The construction of the Model 100P suffered delays caused by the complexity of the transmission, cooling and automatic flaps control systems. On 10 May 1940 the prototype was just nearing completion and was hidden to prevent access to their secrets by the Germans.

Author note​

A service aircraft would have needed larger air intakes for the radiators and less complex cooling and flaps systems. The magnesium engine crankcases would have been very vulnerable to the incendiary ammunition and the tulipwood, with a breaking strength of 70 MPa, too fragile to stand the tensile strength during a dogfight.

In my opinion, the Bugatti 110 C.1 should have been armed with six 7.5 mm, MAC 34 M39 machine guns in the wings (similar to the D.520T installation) and one H.S.404 cannon.
I believe that the fighter version would have a unique power shaft in starboard position and a flat windscreen to avoid the optical distortion when using the GH 38 gunsight.

Given the decentralization policy of aeronautical production, started by the French government in the last years of the decade of the thirties, it seems reasonable to assume that the Bugatti military version would have been propelled by an engine of the same firm and I have been working on the scale drawings of the T67 V16 engine as published at

http: //www.bugattiaircraft.com.

As per my estimations, the installation of the T67 in the Model 100P airframe requires the following modifications: The undercarriage wide track should have been increased to 3.3 m, wingspan to 8.68 m, tailplane to 1.46 m, overall length to 8.33 m, height to 2.16 m and propeller disc diameter to 1.89 m. Based on all these assumptions I will try to draw the look that the mythical airplane might have had.

C.A.P.R.A. R.300​

The midget fighters usually are a good defensive solution when a country feels threatened and needs to quickly increase its production of combat airplanes. The C.A.P.R.A. R.R.20 was a small racer airplane designed by Roger Robert in 1938 to compete in the Coupe Deutsch 1939 race. After the declaration of war the project was modified to be used as a fighter-trainer under the name R.30 or as the R.300 Midget Fighter.

Entirely built in metal, the R.30 would be powered by a 360 hp Bèarn 6C-1, six-cylinder in-line air-cooled engine, with which it was expected to reach 539 kph maximum speed and 9,500 m service ceiling. The wings, spanning 7.5 m with sq.m surface, would serve as housing for the hyper- sustentation system, the Messier landing gear and the armament, possibly two MAC 34A machine guns for the R.300 version. Not a single unit was built.

Payen Fighters​

Between 1932 and 1942, Nicolas Payen designed a series of wooden canard-delta airplanes with a radical tandem-wing configuration.

In 1933 he built the Pa 100 Flèche Volante with small wings called machutes and a 67 degree swept delta tailplane, to compete in the 3rd Coupe Deutsch. The machutes had mobile wingtips which acted as ailerons and electrically-operated metallic flaps. The landing gear consisted of one centreline main leg, retracting backwards, and two outrigger auxiliary wheels retracting into the tailplane.

The engine should have been one 180 hp Regnier R6, six-cylinder straight air-cooled, driving a fixed pitch wooden airscrew. But it was not possible to get one in time to participate in the competition and Payen had to adapt his project to the only engine available: one 380 hp Gnôme-Rhône 7Kd Titan Major seven-cylinder radial air-cooled, weighting 270 Kg, totally unsuited for a racing aircraft. It was necessary to install a fixed undercarriage in more advanced position, to compensate the extra weight, and a tail skid. The wingtips ailerons were also changed by others, safer and of conventional type.

The refurbished plane was named Pa 101 Avion-Flèche, had 4.26 m wingspan, 5.75 m length, 2.2 m height, 6.86 sq.m wing surface, 750 kg maximum weight and one estimated maximum speed of 400 kph. It flew for the first time on 17 April 1935, being damaged in an accident just eight days later.

The Pa 101 airframe served as the basis for a new racer project, called Pa 110 CD (Coupe Deutsch). Designed in 1935, it differed from the previous model by its conventional landing gear, retracting backwards into the fuselage sides. It was hoped that it might be able to fly at 490 kph powered by one 200-240 hp Hirth 508D, eight-cylinder inverted-Vee, air-cooled engine, but the project was cancelled due to lack of funding.

When the Spanish Civil War began, the Republican Government had great difficulties in acquiring combat airplanes abroad, due to the international blockade. In the summer of 1936 Nicolas Payen offered the Spanish communists to build the Pa 110 C.1, the military version of the racer, through the Luxembourgian banker Rosenthal.

The power system designed for the fighter was made up of two 220 hp Renault 6Q-01, six-cylinder straight air-cooled engines installed in tandem face-to-face. Both engines were connected to the contra-rotating propellers power shaft by means of a Cotal-Baudot gearbox that allowed to electrically disconnect any of the engines by means of a clutch.

It was going to have an armament of two 7.5 mm Darne machine guns installed under the machutes and one 20 mm H.S. 9 cannon, firing through the propellers hub, but the French Government had banned its export to Spain and had to be replaced by one 23 mm Danish Madsen cannon. The Pa 110 C.1 would have an estimated maximum speed of 460 kph, flying with one engine, and 550 kph with both engines. The estimated range was of 850 km.

The arrival of the Soviet fighters Polikarpov to Spain in October meant the cancellation of the project, which was redesigned as Pa 112 C.1 to adapt it to the Chasseur Monoplace C.1 specification published by the Ministère de l'Air on 3 June 1937.

The Renault 6Q were replaced by two 200-205 hp Salmson 9ND nine-cylinder radial air-cooled (surplus) engines commonly used by the Bloch M.B.81 of the l’Armée de l’Air and by the Besson B. 411 of the l’Aéronavale. Proposed armament was either a 20 mm H.S. 9 or an Oerlikon FFS cannon and two 7.5 mm MAC 34 M39 belt-feed machine guns installed in the interior of the machutes, or two MAC 34A drum-feed installed under the machutes.

A mock-up using the airframe of the Pa 101 was built in 1938. After being examined by technicians of the l’Armée de l’Air, the project was rejected at the beginning of 1939, because of the great complexity of the power system. Payen offered to build the Pa 300 instead, a fighter capable to surpass the 520 kph of the Programme Technique A23 if they provided him with an H.S.12 Y-45 engine. But the military, who had done most of his career flying in biplanes, found the flèche aerodynamic solution to be too radical and preferred to build the Arsenal VG 33.

To fight these prejudices, Payen built the technological demonstrator Pa 22/2 Fléchair, which was captured by the Germans in 1940 while performing aerodynamic tests in the O.N.E.R.A. wind-tunnel of Chalais-Meudon. Under the new administration, the prototype was modified with the installation of a 180 hp Regnier R6B-01 engine and a new open cockpit with the windscreen of one Arsenal VG 33. It made his first flight on 18 October 1941 and was destroyed during an Allied bombing in April 1944.

The Phoney War ended with the invasion of Belgium and the Netherlands and the German attack against France, using 860 fighters Bf 109E, three-hundred-and-fifty Bf 110, 1,120 medium bombers, 342 dive bombers and 591 reconnaissance airplanes.

L'Armée de l'Air had only thirty-seven Bloch M.B.151, ninety-three Bloch M.B.152, ninety-eight Curtiss H.75A, two-hundred-and-seventy-eight Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 and sixty-seven Potez 631 fighters bons de guerre, supported by thirty Gloster Gladiators and forty-eight Hurricanes British fighters. During the Battle of France 1,279 German, 872 French and 944 British airplanes were destroyed by different causes.

One of the main reasons for the success of the Blitzkrieg against the French and British Armies, in May 1940, was the aerial superiority obtained when the Messerschmitt Bf 109 E-3 entered service with the Luftwaffe. It happened at the right time, when the main French fighter Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 was replaced by the second generation fighters Dewoitine D.520 and Arsenal VG 33. During the Phoney War, l’Armée de l’Air tried to fill the gap with the Bloch M.B.152 and Curtiss H.75A fighters, helped by the British Hawker Hurricane Mk.I. But the Messerschmitt would prove superior.

This seems to be the origin of the commonly accepted paradigm about the assumed inferiority of the French technology. It is not common knowledge that France already had operational naval radar in 1934. And that, at the beginning of June 1940, the antiaircraft artillery defending Paris was controlled by the most advanced radar in the world, able to operate in wavelengths from 80 to 16 cm against the 3.5 to 1.5 m of the British or the 2.4 m to 53 cm of the German radar.

The French scientists were also ahead of their German equivalents in the field of nuclear fission. By early 1940, the CNRS controlled the highest reserve in the world of uranium (8 tons coming from the Belgian Congo) and 200 kg of heavy water from the Norwegian enterprise Norsk Hydro.

The French tanks of 1940 had better armour and armament than the Germans. The Marine Française (the French combat fleet) was superior to the Kriegsmarine in firepower with the Béarn carrier and six squadrons of Loire Nieuport L.N.401/411 dive bombers that technically surpassed the German Ju 87.

The destructiveness of the air-to-air weapons installed in the French fighters was slightly higher that their German equivalents, although the quality of the aiming devices OPL 31, RX 39 and GH 38 used by l’Armée de l’Air was somehow inferior to the Zeiss Revi C/12 reflector gunsight of the Luftwaffe. The following text compares the armament used by the French and German fighters during the Battle of France

 

[Justo Miranda]

MAC 34 (7.5 mm)​

Designed and built by Manufacture d’Armes in Chatellerault (MAC) during the year 1934, it was the standard machine gun used by the French fighters during the Phoney war and the Battle of France. The commonest model was the MAC 34A (for Aile, the French word for wing), gas operated, electro pneumatically loaded, fed from a helical pan 'drum' magazine containing 300 rounds.

The MAC 34 was installed under the wings of the Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 and Potez 631 fighters in aerodynamic fairings with the drum magazine housed within the wing. The joining system was of the cardan type and could be regulated for convergence at an affective range of 250 m. The mechanism was very sensitive to cold temperatures and might occasionally cause a great firing dispersion.

The belt-feed MAC 34 M39 with 500-675 rounds was developed to solve this problem and reduce drag. It could be installed within the wing of the M.S. 410, Dewoitine D.520, Arsenal V.G. 33 and Bloch M.B.155 which all constituted the 2nd generation of French fighters of the war. There was a variant developed for the M.S.406 exportation version that could be integrated with the engine (firing through the propeller hub) and replaced the H.S.9 cannon. It was a version of the MAC 34A which was fed with a 500 rounds drum.

Another variant with flexible mounting, named MAC 34T (for tourelle, or turret in French) was used in bombers and multiplace fighters. The MAC 34 had a high rate of fire because of the short length of its barrel. Consequently, the muzzle velocity and destruction capacity were reduced up to a point of being considered an inefficient weapon against the He 111, Do 17 and Ju 88 bombers. The MAC 34 fired the short cartridge mod. 1929 with Armour Piercing (AP), Armour Piercing/Incendiary (API) and Armour Piercing Tracer (APT) ammunition. In the M.S. 406 and M.B. 152 the three types of ammunition were sequentially stored in the drums and belts, 40% of AP, 40% of API and 20% of APT.

In the Dewoitine D.520, two machine guns were loaded with AP and the other two with API (a hollowed AP that was then filled with phosphor). The incendiary power of the API was big and its penetration capacity almost non-existent. Additionally, its ballistic features differed from the AP type in the different weight between both bullets. The API was thermally unstable. The heating system of the D.520 weapons had to get disconnected after several cases of spontaneous ignition of the phosphor at temperatures between 40° and 45° C.

Oerlikon FFS (20 mm)​

A small amount of these guns, together with their manufacturing license, was acquired by France in 1933. The FFS was not suitable for aircraft engine mounting because of the too advanced position of the recovery cylinder/yoke unit and had to be modified as Hispano-Suiza H.S.7. The French developed the SPAD S.XII in 1916 for the destruction of balloons. It was armed with a single-shot SAMC (APX) 37 mm cannon mounted between the V8 cylinder blocks of the 200 hp Hispano-Suiza 8c engine.

The moteur-canon was not very successful, due to its slow reloading capacity and excessive recoil shock, and the SPAD S.XII was abandoned, but the French retained the idea until the arrival of the right time. This came in 1932 with the 690 hp liquid-cooled engine Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Xbrs of 12 cylinders in 60º 'Vee' configuration.

This was the right engine to combine with one 20 mm Oerlikon FFS cannon -manufactured under license as Hispano-Suiza H.S.7- mounted between the two-cylinder banks. The crankcase was strengthened, and the reduction gear modified to bring the hollow propeller shaft in line with the gun barrel.

The ammunition was the same than that of the Swiss gun, contained in a 60 rounds drum. The H.S.7 was heavier, due to the fixation system to the engine, and had a rate of fire of just 350 rpm (compared to the 470 rpm of the Oerlikon) to protect the engine from any destructive vibration. This engine was then known as Hispano-Suiza 12 Xcrs (‘c’ for canon = cannon) and had reduced its power to 680 hp, consequence of the modifications made in the gearbox. The new moteur-canon was installed in the Dewoitine D.510 fighter and in the Loire-Nieuport L.N. 401/411 dive bombers of l’Aeronavale which fought the panzers on 15 May 1940.

The Germans tried to use the moteur-canon system with their Bf 109 V4, C-2 and E-2 fighters, trying different combinations of Jumo 210 and Daimler Benz 601 engines with MG 17 machine guns and MG FF cannons. But they found insoluble problems of cooling and crankcase destructive vibrations. On October 1940, they finally adapted an MG FF cannon behind the DB 601N engine of the Bf 109 F-0, but the device suffered structural damages during tests. The problem could not be solved until the MG 151/20 gun was available and could be installed in the Bf 109 F-2 in March 1941.

Hispano-Suiza H.S. 9 (20 mm)​

In 1935 a 900 hp improved version of the H.S.12 Xcrs engine appeared, known as Hispano-Suiza H.S.12 Ycrs. The integrated cannon was also an improved version of the H.S.7 although somehow lighter and with 420 rounds per minute (r.p.m.) rate of fire but maintaining the same muzzle velocity and destructive power than the Oerlikon. It fired the same type of HE, HET and AP ammunition than the Oerlikon, stored in a 60 rounds drum.

The HE type model 1936 was identified by a yellow band, the HET of 1939 with a yellow and blue band and the AP was overall painted in black. The HE had a 1937 model 17/19 B impact fuse and the HET also had a self-destruction system. The moteur-canon was very successful in the market, being acquired by the Czech Air Force to equip their Avia B-534, B-536 and B-135 fighters and by the Yugoslavian Air Force for their Ikarus Ik-2 and Rogozarski Ik-3. It was also used by l’Armèe de l’Air to power the Morane-Saulnier M.S.405.

Hispano Suiza H.S. 404 (20 mm)​

After the experience in combat against the fast and well armoured He 111 and Do 17 German bombers obtained during the Spanish Civil War, the engine designer Mark Birkigt decided to develop the H.S. 404 with higher performance. It was gas operated with a 166 per cent higher rate of fire and a muzzle velocity of 880 m/sec compared to the 820 m/sec of the H.S.9. The new weapon entered service in 1939 and could be installed either in the H.S.12 Y-31 engines of the M.S. 406 or in the H.S.12 Y-45 of the Dewoitine D.520, M.B. 155 and Arsenal VG 33 fighters.

The H.S. 404 fired 20x110 ammunition (that was not interchangeable with the 20x110 RB cartridges of the H.S .9) stored in a 60 rounds drum. There were six different types: HE model 1938 or 1939 (130 g) with a 17/19B 1938 model fuse identified by a yellow band, HET identified by a yellow and a blue-grey band, AP (165 g) black projectile with a red band, APT with black nose and metal-grey-metal-red bands, AP/HE with red-yellow-green bands and HEI with red-yellow-blue bands.

This type of ammunition had not been sufficiently tested and caused several accidents during combat. The Dewoitines D.520 of the G.C.I/3 were specially affected, experiencing premature explosions within the barrel when firing the second burst. Between 5 and 8 June 1940 the M.S.406 of the G.C.I/6, G.C.II/2 and G.C.III/7 were used in ground attack task against the German tanks with AP and APT ammunition.

The manufacturing of the H.S. 404 was slow and costly. At the beginning of the war only 928 units had been delivered to l’Armée de l’Air and in March 1940 there were 2,319 units available.

The H.S. 404 was a formidable weapon when integrated in a Hispano-Suiza engine or installed in the nose of the twin engine Potez 631 fighters. However, it was less resilient when installed in the wings of the Bloch fighters, causing different problems of vibration, stoppage, freezing and dispersion of firing.

The H.S. 404 was acquired by the RAF and manufactured under license in the United Kingdom as Hispano-Suiza Mk I, Mk II and Mk V and as Hispano AN/M2 in the USA. A version over flexible mounting was also manufactured to be used by the rear gunners of the French medium bombers LeO 451 and Amiot 354.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Arsenal Projects

One of the best fighter aeroplanes in 1940 was the almost unknown Arsenal VG 33. The
fact that there were just five machines in flying condition at the time of the German
invasion meant that their extraordinary performances could not be tested in combat. As
with the de Havilland Mosquito, the Arsenal was built with wood and equipped with the
most powerful engine and armament of the time.

The Arsenal VG 30 was envisaged as a light fighter, following the Chasseur Monoplace
C.1 specification of 3 June 1937; this requested a small fighter propelled by one 690-hp
Hispano-Suiza HS.12 X crs engine that was armed with one 20-mm HS.9 cannon and
two 7.5-mm MAC 34A drum-fed machine guns, retained from the outdated Dewoitine
D.510 fighters. The VG 30 was constructed from wood/plywood to ensure it would not
use valuable materials that other, more conventional fighters would require should the
war continue for longer than expected. Manufacturing took one-third of the time of an
M.S.406, and it cost three-quarters of a Bloch M.B.152.

On October 1938, the VG 30-01 prototype reached a maximum speed that was 30
kph higher than that of the M.S.406, propelled by a less powerful 180-hp engine. It was
estimated that it could fly at 560 kph with the engine of the M.S.406 and the VG 33
prototype, armed with one HS.404 and four MAC 34 M39s, was built with that purpose.
Fifteen days after the declaration of war on Germany, the SNCA du Nord received
a commission for the manufacture of 220 units of the VG 33, later expanded to 500.

Deliveries to l’Armée de l’Air should start at the beginning of 1940. Yet there were
problems with the import of spruce from Canada and Romania and only seven planes
entered combat between 18 and 25 June 1940, carrying out thirty-six missions with the
GC I/55. The VG 33 outperformed the Bf 109 E-1 in manoeuvrability and fire power and
was almost as fast with a less powerful 240-hp engine. On 20 January 1940, the VG 34-01
prototype reached 590 kph, powered by one HS.12 Y-45.

In February, the VG 35-01 flew powered by a 1,100-hp HS.12 Y-51 engine, and the
decision was taken to start the production of the VG 32, propelled by the American
engine Allison V-1710 C-15, but only a prototype was eventually built before the German

attack. In May, the VG 36-01 flew with a 1,100-hp HS.12 Y-51. The VG 39-01 flew during
the same month, propelled by a 1,200-hp HS.12 Z, reaching 625 kph.

Other known variants are: The VG 36, with Hispano-Suiza 12 Y-51 engine, and some
aerodynamic improvements in the radiator that allowed a maximum speed of 590 kph.
The VG 39 used the 1,200-hp Hispano-Suiza 12 Z and six MAC machine guns and could
fly at 625 kph. The VG 40 (project) was equipped with the same engine and, thanks to
some aerodynamic improvements in the cooler, could reach 650 kph. The VG 50 (project)
had to use the 1,200-hp American Allison V-1710 engine and rounded windshield.

The VG 60 (project) was designed during the German occupation and was a slightly
bigger version than its predecessors. The engine chosen for this aeroplane was a 1,750-hp
Jumo 213 E and the armaments were eight 12.7-mm heavy machine guns and a 20-mm
cannon in the engine shaft. The huge circular cooler was housed in the fuselage, as in
the Blohm & Voss patented system, and the air was expelled by a nozzle located in its
rear end.

Its production as a transition fighter was proposed in May 1945, before the first French
jets came into service. However, a most promising project, the VB.10, within the same
company, and the lack of special woods for the French aeronautical industry, brought an
end to the project.

Arsenal VG 60 Technical Data

Power plant: one 1,750-hp Junkers Jumo 213 E, twelve-cylinder inverted ‘V’, liquid-cooled

engine driving a three-bladed VDM airscrew with 3.38 m of diameter

Wingspan: 39.4 feet (12 m)

Length: 32.8 feet (10 m)

Height: 11.8 feet (3.6 m)

Wing area: 246 sq. feet (22.17 sq. m)

Max. weight: 7,700 lb (3,488 kg)

Estimated max. speed: higher than 435 mph (700 kph)

Armament: eight wing-mounted 12.7-mm Browning machine guns with 400 rounds per

gun and one engine-mounted 20-mm HS.404 cannon shooting through the propeller shaft

On 23 October 1934, an Italian experimental seaplane named Macchi MC.72 surpassed
the flying speed of 700 km/h, thus obtaining an absolute record for aeroplanes of its class
that has never been improved until today.

The secret of this success was in the power plant: a 2,850-hp Fiat A.S.6 of twenty-four-
cylinder double V-12 piston engine, essentially two V-12 engines in tandem (joined by
a single crankshaft) each driving one of the two contra-rotating propellers via a coaxial
shaft. Although the idea of coupled engines finally proved to be inefficient in practice, it
was seriously considered for military purposes during the years previous to the Second
World War.

When Italians tried to mass produce the Fiat A38 RI C15/45 engine (the military
version of the AS.6) to propel the Fiat G.50 fighter, they encountered unsolvable
manufacturing and maintenance problems due to the complexity of the design. This
forced them to cancel the programme in July 1941.

The same situation was experienced by North American with their enormous Chrysler
XIV-2220 to be used as the power plant for an advanced version of the P-47 Thunderbolt,
which was necessary to cancel due to excessive vibration.

The Germans abandoned their work on the V16 engines for the same reason. The design
of a V16 variant of the DB 603, known as DB 609, was started in September 1942. It was a

sixteen-cylinder, 2,500-hp engine, whose prototype showed serious problems of vibration
when tested in the Focke-Wulf 190 V19 prototype due to the excessive length of the
crankshaft. The result of their efforts on the development of side-by-side coupled engines
was the DB 606, 610, and 613, whose operational use in the Heinkel He 177 bombers was
a maintenance nightmare, with several accidents and fires due to the engines overheating.

The British also failed with the 2,000-hp Rolls-Royce Vulture. It was a twenty-four-
cylinder ‘X’ engine formed by two Rolls-Royce Peregrine of twelve cylinders in ‘V’ (one
normal and one inverted) married to a common crankshaft with which they expected
to power the Hawker Tornado fighter. The project was cancelled in 1940 in favour of the

Hawker Typhoon propelled by the more conventional Napier Sabre engine.
The French designers also tried their own solution to the problem. The most
imaginative was doubtless used by Roland Payen in his experimental light fighter

Pa.112 C1. It used two Salmson AD-9 radial engines in a face-to-face position to drive a
common gearbox. This was a transmisión électrique Cotal, which employed epicyclical
internals and an electrical gear change control by means of electromagnetic clutches.
Originally designed for high-performance cars, this system actuated over a coaxial shaft
located over the engines, through which a 20-mm gun could be fired simultaneously,

serving to move the propellers—a unique case of moteur-canon using radial engines.
A bit more conventional was the system of engines in tandem designed during the
German occupation by the engineer Michel Vernisse. It was to power the Arsenal VB.10
fighter by using two Hispano-Suiza HS.12Z engines. One of them was installed in the nose

of the aeroplane and the other in the central section of the fuselage. Both were connected to
each other by a power shaft that went under the pilot seat, like in the Bell P-39 Airacobra.
Excessive vibrations were removed by the device known as joint homocinétique.

In 1942, the Latécoère 299A was built to test the system by modifying a Latécoére dive
bomber in which two standard 860-hp HS.12-Y-31 were connected by a power shaft.
The prototype was destroyed in an accident without ever having flown, but the ground
tests performed were satisfactory enough to approve the construction of the V.10. The
Germans were not interested in the Latécoère 299A; at that time, they had already
dropped their own DB 615 system, with two DB 603 engines connected in tandem.

The appearance of the first jet fighters made the VB.10 obsolete and it was decided to
use it as transition aeroplane during the first years after the war, until the time when the
new French jet fighters were available. However, the programme was cancelled in 1948
due to different accidents with the prototypes and pre-production aeroplanes.

Several variants of the VB.10, about which very little is known, were proposed during
the war. One of them was a naval fighter designed in 1944. Another was named VB.15
and was to be propelled by two German Jumo 213 engines.


Arsenal VB.10 Technical Data

Power plant: two 860-hp Hispano-Suiza HS.12 Y-31, twelve-cylinder ‘V’, liquid-cooled

engines or two 1,150-hp HS.12 Z Ars 15/16

Wingspan: 50.8 feet (15.49 m)

Length: 42.6 feet (12.98 m)

Height: 17 feet (5.2 m)

Wing area: 382 sq. ft (35.5 sq. m)

Max. weight: 21,737 lb (9,860 kg)

Max. speed: 435 mph (700 kph)

Climb rate: 2,008 feet/min.

Armament: four wing-mounted 20-mm HS.404 cannons with 150 rounds per gun

The Soviets acquired the manufacturing license of the HS.12 Ybrs as Klimov M-103 A. In
1939 they began the construction of the Bolkhovitinov S-2, a fast bomber powered by two
M-103 engines connected in tandem by a transmission system like the Vernisse. On 20
March 1940, the prototype was flown reaching a top speed of 570 kph. After the German
attack, the development of the S-2 was interrupted because of the priority given to the
manufacture of the Petlyakov Pe-2 bomber.

In October 1940, after analysing the new combat tactics used in Europe, the Kawasaki
firm started a high-speed aircraft research programme, towards closing the technological
gap with the western world. They used two 1,175-hp Ha-40 (DB 601) engines connected
in tandem by a 2-m-long DB 615 power shaft and an evaporation cooling system based
on the He 100 V8. All necessary information was acquired in Germany by engineer Jun
Kitano in 1940.

Foreseeing the French technological delay in the field of jet engines and its
consequences at the end of the war, Arsenal’s design team (known as AEA during the
German occupation) created two projects of flying wings based on the VB.10 with
improved aerodynamic features.

The first design had a 17 per cent thickness gull wing very similar to the one in the North
American Northrop N-1M, although the double dihedral angle (+16 degrees, -9 degrees)
was more extreme. The wing had a moderate swept angle of 15 degrees in the leading edge,
Youngman-type flaps and spoilers. The engines would have been two HS.12Z rated at 1,200
hp and equipped with Turboméca superchargers and a ventral Chausson radiator.
Thanks to the joint homocinétique, both engines could work independently by
acting over two Ratier contra-rotating airscrews. It was to be built using welded steel
tubing with some pieces of magnesium and the external coating of a material called
contraplaqué métallique. The cockpit armour would have a 7-mm side, 15-mm back,
and 80-mm armoured glass front panel. The armament was to be a combination of the
Browning 5-inch machine guns and Hispano-Suiza 20-mm cannons with an SF 1943B
gunsight. The radio should be of the TR1143 type.

The second design was more advanced. With the pilot in a prone position installed in
the forward section of the fuselage, pusher airscrews, and 33-degree swept wings based
on the research made by Roger Robert in 1942.

In 1944, it was decided to replace the HS.12Z with two 1,776-hp Jumo 213 A-1s in the
first design and an experimental twenty-four-cylinder, 3,000-hp HS.24Z in ‘X’ in the
second design.

First Design Technical Data

Wingspan: 59 feet (18 m)

Length: 30 feet (9.1 m)

Height: 6.8 feet (2.1 m)

Wing surface: 444 feet (40 sq. m)

Max. weight: 13.135 lb (5,950 kg)

Second Design Technical Data

Wingspan: 59 feet (18 m)

Length: 26.2 feet (8 m)

Height: 6.4 feet (1.95 m)

Wing surface: 444 feet (40 sq. m)

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[Justo Miranda]

After the June 1940 armistice, the French continued improving the Morane fighters

and their engines in Switzerland and Spain.

At the beginning of 1943, the drawings of M.S.460 C.1 (1939), M.S.540 C.1 (1941),

and M.S.640 C.1 (1940) fighter projects and of the HS.12 Z-17 experimental engine were

delivered to the Swiss by Morane-Saulnier personnel that collaborated with Dr. Studer,

chief engineer of Doflug, in the design of the D-3802 (640 kph)—the Swiss version of

the M.S.540. Possibly also included were parts of the M.S.450 prototype for the study of

their manufacturing techniques.

The D-3802 was powered by a 1,230-hp HS.12Y-89 (Saurer YS-2) driving a four-bladed

Escher-Wyss EW V-8 constant-speed propeller with reverse pitch. It conserved the wing

structure of the D-3801 but with the Plymax, replaced with all-aluminium covering,

glycol radiators under the wings, Fowler-type flaps, and variable-incidence tailplane.

The armament consisted of one 20-mm HS.404 T.I cannon and four 7.5-mm Fl.Mg.24

machine guns.

Four aircraft were manufactured in 1944, as prototypes of the production model

D-3802A, the Swiss version of the M.S.550 with squared wingtips, a bulged canopy, and

three HS.404 cannons. Only eleven copies were built between 1946 and 1950.

The D-3803—described as M.S. 560 by some authors, with a modified dorsal fuselage,

all-round visibility canopy, and a 1,430-hp Saurer YS-3 engine—was built as a prototype

only in 1947. Its mass production was dismissed after the acquisition of 130 war-surplus

P-51D Mustangs.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Sud-Est S.E.582

The success achieved by the Dewoitine D.520 interceptor in 1940 persuaded its designers
to continue its improvement and limited production under German supervision. The
first flight of the S.E.520 Z was in February 1943, reaching a speed of 675 km/h with the
new 1,600-hp Hispano Suiza HS.12 Z engine.

Since 1940, the engineers Castello and Henrat considered the construction of the
heavy fighter M.580 by increasing the dimensions of the D.520 by 150 per cent. It should
be propelled by two Hispano-Suiza 12 Y-45 tandem-mounted joints by an Arsenal-
Waseige 20 b transmission system, with 2/3 reduced gear-box and two contra-rotating
coaxial airscrews like other heavy designs of the time like the Arsenal VB-10 and the
Latécoère 299 A.

In 1941, it was decided to replace them with the two Hispano-Suiza 12 Z (S.E.T. 580
project) and, at the end of 1942, with a single 3,000-hp H.S. 24 Z twenty-four-cylinder
‘X’-type liquid-cooled engine. The latest was formed by two H.S. 12 Z (S.E.580 project)
installing the radiator within the ‘S’ duct located in the rear fuselage with an air scoop
jutting out from the dorsal fuselage, behind the canopy.

The new aeroplane could be used as a long-range escort fighter, as a dive bomber with
a 500-kg bomb under the fuselage, or as an assault plane equipped with a 30-mm gun,
four 20-mm guns, and eight 7.5-mm (or six 12.7-mm) machine guns.

By the beginning of 1945, the Marine Nationale ordered two prototypes of the navalised
version (S.E.582) fitted with folding wings, catapult spoilers, tailhook and reversible pitch
airscrew able to transport a 600-kg bomb or a 690-kg torpedo under the fuselage, and
two 250-l fuel tanks under the wings.

In 1946, serious difficulties were encountered to develop the H.S. 24 Z engine, so it was
replaced by the 3,560-hp H.S. 24 H (two German Jumo 213 mated in ‘H’ configuration),
which would be driving a 3.7-m five-blade airscrew fitted to decrease the effects of the
compressibility buffeting.

By the end of 1947, both the S.E.582 and its competitor, the SO.8000 Narval, were left
aside in favour of the new turbojet propelled designs.

S.E.582 Technical Data

Power plant: one 3,000-hp Hispano-Suiza 24 Z, twenty-four-cylinder ‘X’ liquid-cooled

engine driving a six-bladed contra-rotating airscrew with 3.5 m of diameter

Wingspan: 52 feet (15.86 m)

Length: 42.6 feet (13 m)

Height: 14.2 feet (4.35 m)

Wing surface: 390 sq. feet (35.09 sq. m)

Estimated max. weight: 18,656 lb (8,451 kg)

Estimated max. speed: 466 mph (749 kph)

Estimated ceiling: 44,608 feet (13,600 m)

Estimated range: 1,709 miles (2,750 km)

Armament: one 30-mm engine-mounted cannon shooting through the hub propellers,

four wing-mounted 20-mm HS.404 canons and eight 7.5-mm MAC M-39 machine guns

plus a 600-kg bomb or a 690-kg torpedo under the fuselage.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Bibliography​

Books

• Green, W., Warplanes of the Second World War, FIGHTERS, Macdonald 1962.
• Facon, P., L’Armée de l’Air dans la Tourmente, Economica 2005.
• Joanne, S., Le Bloch M.B.152, Lela Presse 1998.
• Comas, M., Le Morane-Saulnier 406, Lela presse 1998.
• Cuny, J., Le Dewoitine D.520, Docavia Nº4, Ed. Larivière 1980.
• Klein, B., Airplane Five Views, B.C.F.K. Publications 1974.
• Marchand, P., Morane-Saulnier M.S. 406 C1, Les Ailes de Gloire Nº7, D’Along 2002.
• Shores, C., Armée de l’Air, Squadron/Signal Publications 1976.
• Ketley, B., French Aces of World War II, Osprey Publishing 2000.
• Marchand, P., Les Moteurs à Piston Français, D’Along 2003.

Publications

• Watteeuw, P., “Les Pertes de la Chasse de Jour Allemande en France 1939-45”, AVIONS, Hors Série Nº10 and 15, 2005.
• Facon, P., “L’Armée de l’Air en 1939-1940”, Le Fana de l’Aviation, Hors Série Nº7, 1997.
• Belcarz, B., “L’Armée de l’Air durant la Campagne de 1940”, Ciel de Guerre Nº8, 2010.
• Breffort, D., “L’Armée de l’Air en 1939-1942”,Wing Masters, Hors Série Nº1, 1991.
• Facon, P., “Le Sacrifice des Bombardiers Français”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº558, 2016.
• Michulec, E., “Jagdwaffe en France”, Ciel de Guerre Nº8, 2011.
• Mihaly, E., “Les Chasseurs Légers Caudron-Renault”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº 33 to 36.
• Belcarz, B., “Le G.C. I/145”, Air Mag, Hors Série Nº6, 2009.
• Nĕmeček, V., “Potez 230”, Letectvi + Kosmonautika 22/85.
• Coste, A., “Le Spad 510 s’en va-t-en guerre”, AVIONS Nº128, 2003.
• Moulin, J., “Loire 43, 45 & 46”, Document’air Nº3, Avia Editions, 1998.
• Nĕmeček, V., “Roussel 30”, Letectvi + Kosmonautika 5/86.
• Ricco, P., “Le Bloch M.B. 700 dernier des Spads”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº341.
• Roux, R., “M.Bloch 700”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº8.
• Mihaly, E., “Il a failli être le T6 français en 1940”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº78 & 423.
• Cuny, J., “Les Chasseurs Arsenal VG 30 à VG 70”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº197 to 200.
• Ehrengardt, C., “Arsenal VG 33 et dérivés”, Aéro-Éditions, Aéro Files Nº1.
• Moulin, J., “C.A.P.R.A. R.30 ou R.300”, l’Aérophile 2010.
• Leyvastre, P., “Bloch’s Fighters”, Air International/April 1978.
• Cuny, J., “Bloch M.B.150 à 157”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº8 to 11.
• Roux, R., “Bugatti 100P& 110P”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº7 & 328.
• Michelet, G., “Des idées originales”, l’Aérophile octobre 1938.
• Nicole, F., “Payen: un rêve de vitesse”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº266.
• Roux, R., “Les Avions Payen”, Le Fana de l’Aviation Nº5, 6 and 7.
• Pelletier, A., “Paper Darts to Deltas”, Air Enthusiast Nº68, April 1997.
• Correspondence with Paul Deweer, Jean Cuny and Bernhard Klein.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Cam & Markings color guide

 

[Justo Miranda]

Post-2

 

[AR90]

Justo Miranda
I will never forget this name.
You made my day.
I love you!
Thank you so much.

 

[Justo Miranda]

Justo Miranda
I will never forget this name.
You made my day.
I love you!
Thank you so much.

I consider it an obligation to help those who undertake something about aviation, video games are not usually very exact in historical and technical details and lose a lot of value with it, if you need some more specialized information, I hope that I, or some other fan of French aviation, can help.

 

[ACResearcher]

Beautiful coverage of these aircraft.

Well done!

AlanG

 

[Colonial-Marine]

I recall reading somewhere on this forum that one French prototype fighter fitted with a more powerful (maybe 23mm or 25mm) Hispano-Suiza motor-cannon and fought briefly in the Battle for France but was lost in action. Was that one of the fighter designs covered here?

 

[Justo Miranda]

I recall reading somewhere on this forum that one French prototype fighter fitted with a more powerful (maybe 23mm or 25mm) Hispano-Suiza motor-cannon and fought briefly in the Battle for France but was lost in action. Was that one of the fighter designs covered here?

S.N.A.C.A.O. 200

 

[Archibald]

The Madsen 23 mm gun was such a lost opportunity...