The Sud-Est LeO H-246 was a large four-engined flying boat from the late 1930s.
When the Second World War broke out in September 1939, the French Navy drew up plans to requisition the H-246s as maritime patrol aircraft.
The third production aircraft was completed for the Navy in June 1940, with a glazed position being fitted in the nose for a Bombardier/navigator, bomb racks fitted below the wings and four 7.5 mm Darne machine guns fitted as defensive armament. It entered service with Escadrille 9E on 25 August 1940, the only aircraft actually to be operated by the French Navy.
The ex-French Navy H-246 was destroyed at Lyon by Allied attacks in the spring of 1944.
