Favourite Naval Fighter

[GrauGeist]

When did the Bearn ever operate D.510's? The embarked Naval fighter at the start of WWII was the Dewoitine 376. There was a plan to equiped it with a Navelized version of the D.520 but only a prototype was partially completed before France fell. If I am wrong please provide a source for the D.510 on the Bearn. I just finished the book French Aircraft Carriers 1910-2000 a few weeks ago and there was no mention of a Navy version of the D.510.

The French Navy had two Escadrilles equipped with the D.510 and they rotated them through service until being withdrawn for training.

The late 30's was a tumultuous time.for French aviation for a number of reasons, so it's a hard path to follow.
Look at the proposed Dewoitine D.790 (powered by an H-S 12Y) for the carrier Jeoffre. Neither came to be, but there it is.

 

[Thumpalumpacus]

The French Navy had two Escadrilles equipped with the D.510 and they rotated them through service until being withdrawn for training.

Did they actually fly off the carrier operationally?

 

[Shortround6]

I have little information about the Aeronautique Navale, but apparently they had quite a number of shore-based aircraft. Fighters, bombers and recon planes in addition to the float planes and flying boats and whatever small handfuls they had on the Bearn at any given time.

One book claims that Aeronautique Navale got 30 Dewoitine D 501s (H-S X engines) in the mid 30s for shore based units.
Book also claims that the Aeronautique Navale formed two escadrilles using D 510 in Dec 1939 and May 1940.

It would seem that the French navy did use Dewoitine 500-510 fighters but not on the Bearn.

More power to the men at Dewoitine if they got money from the government to fund a true carrier plane based on the 520. Making a good one might be another story.

 

[EwenS]

Bearn entered service in 1928 and was reconstructed 1934/35. Historically the air group for the Bearn was made up as follows:-

Fighter squadron - designated 7C1 (C = Chasseur) equipped with
Dewoitine D1 1928 to 1932
Wibault 74 1932 to 1938
Dewoitine D.373/376 from 1938. The D.373 was trialled in 1936, proved unsuccessful, and was returned to the factory for rebuilding before entering service. The D.376 was a folding wing version.

Squadron designations changed just pre-WW2 becoming:-
AC1 - with D.376
AC2 - with D.373

Reconnaissance squadron - designated 7S2 (S = Surveillance)
Levasseur PL.4 1928 to 1931
Levasseur PL.10 1931 to 1933
Levasseur PL.101 1933 to 1939
Loire-Nieuport 401 from Oct 1939. Proved underpowered and never deployed on Bearn.

Squadron was redesignated AB2 in 1938 (B = bombardier)

Attack squadron - designated 7B1
Levasseur PL.4 1928 to 1930
Levasseur PL.7 1930 to 1939
Vought 156F from Sept 1939. Export version of the Vought SB2U Vindicator. Never embarked on Bearn.

Squadron was redesignated AB1 in 1938.

Each of these 3 squadrons was to have 12 aircraft divided into 4 flights. In practice she deployed with 6 from each squadron between 1928 & 1933. After that she embarked 9 from each squadron. The air group was disembarked on the outbreak of WW2 and she became a training ship, including deck landing training in the Med for new Vought 156F crews. In May / June 1940 she was tasked with transporting French gold reserves to the USA / Canada and collecting US built aircraft for the return journey. Immobilized in the Caribbean until 1943.

Information from an article by John Jordan in Warship 2020.

As well as the Vought 156F, the French also ordered 81 Grumman G-36 fighters (Export version of the F4F Wildcat). Contracts for the last batch of 50 Vought 156F and the G-36 were taken over by Britain in June 1940, giving us the Chesapeake and Martlet respectively.

When it came to the next French carrier planned (the Joffre expected to enter service in 1942) new aircraft types were envisaged as being ready. Several prototypes were ordered of dive / torpedo bomber types (including the CAO 600 and Dewoitine D.750 as well as a wheeled version of the Latecoere 299) but the final air group was envisaged as being:-

Fighter - 15 of a navalised version of the Dewoitine D.520 with folding wings and arrester hook designated D.790.
Strike - 25 of a navalised version of the Breguet Br693 designated the Br810.

See John Jordan's article in Warship 2010.

 

[Admiral Beez]

The D.376 was a folding wing version.

And I believe, when the D.376 entered service in 1939 it was the very first single seat monoplane carrier fighter to have folding wings. The US wouldn't have one until 1942's F4F-4, and the British more than a year later with 1943's Seafire Mk.3. Wingtips aside, the Japanese never got there.

I wonder if Bloch (Dassault) ever looked at making a carrier fighter in the 1930s? The Aéronavale did have land based MB 150 fighters. Postwar every French-made carrier strike-fighter (Étendard IV, Super Étendard, Rafale M), seemed to be theirs. Bréguet, maker of the postwar Alizé (and Jaguar M) also made some aircraft that could have served on Bearn, including rotaries.

 

[frankv]

People interested in the F4U vs F6F may like to read the attached, which I stumbled across on FB. It's by Don Nairn, who was a RN pilot in the USA who evaluated and required changes to the F4U before it was accepted by the RN, and evaluated the Zero, amongst other stuff.

 

[A4K]

We were discussing this on a kiwi forum I belong to. Here is a link with the full article:

https://rnzaf.proboards.com/thread/17604/rukuhia-aircraft-dump?page=19#post-334180

 

[WARSPITER]

Two favourites for me.

Hellcat and Seafire in no particular order.

 

[Viking1066]

Mitsubishi A6M2b and Mitsubishi A5M4.