DeWoitone D.520 vs. Spitfire Bf-109

[Juha]

Thanks a lot FalkeEins!
very interesting article. D.520 was a fascinating plane. Eric Brown didn't like it much, maybe as a carrier pilot he was overly negative towards planes with harsh stall characteristics. Some French on the other hand are fanatically for it. It is also interesting that de Salaberry says that he was slowly gaining the 109E, at least one French ace claimed that he could easily gain diving 109E in D.520 and the French test says that the diving speeds were same.

BTW thanks for Kurfürst for publishing the French test if I have not thanked for that earlier.

Juha

 

[FalkeEins]

thank you Juha.....de Salaberry goes on to say that the D520 was some 30-50 km/h slower than an Emil in level flight but could catch it up in the dive due to the "finesse of its lines" - the D520's real problem was the inadequate power plant.. you're right, I get the impression that some 'enthusiasts' are a little more 'fanatical' about the D520 than is really merited

 

[Iain Stewart]

My dad flew RAF Sunderlands in West Africa in 1941. One day they were bounced by three Vichy D520s which shot up the aircraft pretty well but didn't shoot it down. He won a DFM in that action.

 

[nuuumannn]

I know thsi is a little late in the day, but the D.520 was a real handful to fly and operate on the ground, with a tendency to ground loop among other issues, visibility on the ground was not good either. I remember reading an account translated into Englissh about flying the type and a French pilot remarked, "That little She-Devil is never to be trusted until she is in the hangar..."

In saying that, it's unpredictability makes it an edgy little machine. I like it.

Musee de l'Air 23

Musee de l'Air 24

 

[FalkeEins]

My piece from De Salaberry is no longer on my blog as I put it in my 'Luftwaffe aces' book. I've got a decent article on the D.520 with some great pictures all ready to go but not much interest out there I'm afraid.

BTW some 467 D.520s were constructed but only around 238 – five escadrilles - saw Armée de l'Air service of which 89 were lost. Over 50 of these 'losses' were the result of a lack of spares and inadequate front-line facilities. One factor in the indifferent performance of the D.520 in France is rarely mentioned - the CGT (French communist trade union at the Toulouse factory) had received an order from the PCF (French communist party) to 'go-slow' on the production of the D.520 as a direct result of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact. An account from GC II/7...

".. The Dewoitines were being delivered to us piecemeal ('..au compte-goutte..') Finally five pilots and five mechanics flew to Toulouse on board a Bloch 220 on the afternoon of May 14. Once there more surprises awaited us - although the airfield was awash with machines, the Dewoitines were not ready for a variety of reasons..(...) our pilots returned with their aircraft ten days later on the 24th.."

 

[tomo pauk]

the CGT (French communist trade union at the Toulouse factory) had received an order from the PCF (French communist party) to 'go-slow' on the production of the D.520 as a direct result of the German-Soviet non-aggression pact.

What orders were sent to CGT from PCF on 4th September of 1939?

 

[FalkeEins]

Don't know. The 11 April 1940 issue of 'Flight' described the D.520 as " a considerable advance over the other French types now in service with the Armée de l'air" but added that "since June 1939 little has been heard of the D.520. " From December 1939 GC I/3 carried out operational testing and conversion training in the south of France on the type - more one hundred modifications were required before the type could be cleared for service.