evangilder
"Shooter"
The French actually had some remarkable aviation engineers. There were a large number of French aircraft companies before they were invaded. Bloch, DeWoitine, Breguet, Latecoere, Moraine-Saulnier and Nieuport to name a few.
Least Purty Aircraft of WW2
- Thread starter Smokey
- Start date
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- Thread starter
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Avions Marcel Bloch M.B.157, which reached 443 mph
http://www.geocities.com/lastdingo/aviation/list.htm
Here was an aircraft with the same speed as a P51, P38, late model Spitfires, FW 190 D9s, yet it was almost ready in 1940!
Rather like the Heinkel He 100 which had the speed of these fighters in 1939, but lost out to the Me 109.
Avions Marcel Bloch M.B.162, 343 mph, 1940, cannon armament
Also helicopter technology was very advanced in France before WW2:
Breguet-Dorand "Gyroplane Laboratoire" flew on June 26, 1935
http://www.fsdome.com/aviation-encyclopedia/helis/country/france/helis/15.htm
Basically it seems that too much money was spent on the maginot line, and so money for aircraft research and production was limited. There were some amazing aircraft, yet they appeared too late, in some cases just a few months too late
P38 Pilot
Tech Sergeant
Wow, I didn't know the French had it in them! And will someone please not tell me to "Judge a book by its cover..." I have heard tha SO MANY times!
evangilder
"Shooter"
Nobody did, I pointed out some of the manufacturers and Smokey provided some great info on a few of their developments.
Parmigiano
Senior Airman
After WWIIAvions Marcel Bloch became Avions Marcel Dassault, the ones of the 'Mirage' series
Also France had a golden time in aviation around WWI, when they were the almost unique providers of fighter engines with the 'rotative' Gnome, Le Rhone, (later they merged) and Clerget. Almost all fighters who had not an 'inline' used the French engines or their locally license-built versions.
Had France resisted some year in WWII, they probably could develop some really good plane.
... but they were smarter than that: they just give up quickly when times were hard, had others do the job for them and then they came back claiming victory and having good part of industry not heavily damaged and ready to restart! And little money spent on the war! (..just a joke, don't want to be killed by some French!)
Also France had a golden time in aviation around WWI, when they were the almost unique providers of fighter engines with the 'rotative' Gnome, Le Rhone, (later they merged) and Clerget. Almost all fighters who had not an 'inline' used the French engines or their locally license-built versions.
Had France resisted some year in WWII, they probably could develop some really good plane.
... but they were smarter than that: they just give up quickly when times were hard, had others do the job for them and then they came back claiming victory and having good part of industry not heavily damaged and ready to restart! And little money spent on the war! (..just a joke, don't want to be killed by some French!)
Nice info Smokey!
Nice info there. I never new anything about the French Rotarywing designs. I knew all about there fighters and bombers but never the helicopters.
P38 Pilot
Tech Sergeant
Yeah. The only ones i ever heard about were those Japanese ones that were submarine-destroyers.
JCS
Senior Airman
P38 Pilot said:
Be glad you never heard about them, they are some of the ugliest aircraft I've ever seen in my life. Especially the early high-wing ones, they look like a refrigerator box with wings and a greenhouse for a cockpit.
Dac
Airman 1st Class
The Luftwaffe was lucky that the crazy politics in France in the 1930s slowed down the introduction of newer aircraft. They would have been in for a tough time against some of the French aircraft that were starting to show up.
P38 Pilot
Tech Sergeant
Note to self...French politics craziness still exists today.
the lancaster kicks ass
Major General
- 19,937
- Dec 20, 2003
JCS said:
if you don't mind i happen to think french bombers were very attractive..........
P38 Pilot said:
What the hell are you talking about? Japanese what? Japanese Helicopters?
If you are talking about Helicopters, there were actually many nations that had helicopters. The Germans had a ton of very successfull "true" Helicopter designs and the US had quite a bit under the design work of Egor Sikorsky. As a matter of fact Sikorsky revolutionized the helicopter.
Yes it was. Great helicopter for its time also.
P38 Pilot
Tech Sergeant
What the hell is that suppose to be??? A PLANE???
It looks like a turd with wings.
