Combat aircraft. Not a lion, but a lady among the peasants

2024 Author: Matthew Elmers | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 21:49

Yes, speaking of Soviet, German, British, American and Japanese cars, sooner or later you want to roll out something like … Romanian, Italian or French.

Not that “we also fought”, because we fought, no words, some (like the already mentioned “Dewuatin” D.520) on three fronts at once, against all. Well, since there is such a fighter in the history of the French Air Force, why not a bomber?

Yes, there is a bomber who fought the entire war. Not only did he skate the entire Second World War from the first to the last day, he also turned out to be a long-liver in full, having served as much as 20 years after the war, 4 years more than Dewuatin.

And plus to everything the plane was simply gorgeous for its time. Especially when you look at the architectural quirks and excesses in the French bomber aircraft in the late 30s of the last century.

Agree, against the background of these chests, which were also his peers, the LeO-45 is simply a masterpiece in terms of aerodynamics and grace. Finally, the French designers were able to get into a really beautiful and aesthetic aircraft.

Combat aircraft. Not a lion, but a lady among the peasants

And it all began then, in the early blessed thirties, when the doctrine of Douai ruled in the heavens. It was following the postulates of this doctrine that flying horror (in terms of aesthetics) such as Bloch MB 200 and 210, Amiot 143, Potez 540 and 542, Farman 221 and 222, LeO 257bis were born in France.

These seemingly "flying cruisers", somewhat creepy in appearance, protected by circular fire turrets with several machine guns, but slow, with unsatisfactory maneuverability, respectively - completely defenseless during the day, without fighter escort, over enemy territory in the face of opposition from air defense and enemy fighters.

Having stamped these monsters, the French changed their minds and issued a project of a completely different nature.

The new bomber was supposed to have a speed of at least (!) 400 km / h (the legislators of the airplane, at that time the Soviet SB, already issued 450 km / h, if that), with a bomb load of 1,000 kg, with an overload of up to 1,500 kg, with a range of up to 1200 km.

It was envisaged that these aircraft would operate exclusively under the cover of fighters, but nevertheless, the defensive armament should be sufficient. The only thing that was recommended to be removed was the bow tower. This firing point and normal aerodynamics turned out to be poorly compatible things.

Many companies were working on the project, but it was LeO's designers who were able to come up with several innovations that ensured them victory in the competition.

To begin with, they suggested in a very original way that the protection of the rear hemisphere be placed on a 20-mm cannon from the Hispano-Suiza. Nobody really did that. But the idea came up, because it was for this that the plumage was made spaced apart, and it did not interfere with shooting.

The machine gun protecting the lower hemisphere was placed inside the retractable armored vehicle. That is, everything is for aerodynamics. The crew was reduced to four people, assigning the duties of navigator and bombardier to the co-pilot.

The LeO 45 prototype was released earlier than its competitors and made its maiden flight on January 16, 1937. With the 1200-horsepower Gnome-Rhone 14P engines, a top speed of 515 km / h was reached. But it immediately became clear that the area of the vertical tail surfaces was not enough during takeoff and during climb. I had to immediately modify the steering wheels.

After experimenting with engines from Gnome-Rhone, the aircraft was equipped with Hispano-Suiza 14Aa 6/7 engines, Hispano-Suiza three-bladed propellers with variable pitch in flight. The air-cooled engine developed 980 hp. at sea level, 1080 hp on takeoff and 1120 hp. at an altitude of 4000 m.

On trials with Hispano-Suiza, the maximum speed was reached at an altitude of 4000 m - 480 km / h. This suited everyone, and Liore et Olivier received a pre-order for 100 aircraft and then another contract for 480 aircraft followed. In total, orders for the LeO 45 amounted to 1,549 copies.

On May 11, 1940, 10 machines from Groupement 6, covered by 18 MS 406 fighters, made their first sortie. The targets were motorized columns on the Maastricht-Tongre highway and bridges over the Albert Canal. The attack was carried out from a height of 500 meters, one plane was shot down, and of the nine who returned the next day, only one was ready for takeoff. The rest, as they say, were "in the sieve"

After 10 days, on May 21, having made 140 sorties, dropping 120 tons of bombs and losing 41 cars (16 over enemy-occupied territory), Groupement 6 was withdrawn to the rear for re-formation. It somehow doesn’t feel like a "strange war" anymore, does it?

Units armed with LeO 45s fought on all fronts. Still, the plane gave a chance to successfully complete the mission and return home. True, if there was no fighter cover, usually everything ended sadly.

LeO 45 fought in France, flew to bomb BMW factories in Munich, attacked military targets in Italy, and a number of units fought in North Africa.

The last daytime flight of the LeO 45 during the 1939-40 campaign was carried out on the afternoon of June 24th by 11 aircraft, again from Groupement 6.

Then there was the surrender on June 25. And military operations in Europe ended for France.

If we talk about the contribution of bombers to the resistance to the Wehrmacht, then according to Groupement 6 there is such data: more than 400 group sorties, 320 tons of bombs dropped, 31 LeO 45 were shot down by enemy anti-aircraft guns or fighters, 40 were written off due to combat damage or broken on the ground and 5 were lost in accidents cases.

Probably they fought after all.

Further, the war continued in North Africa, where the LeO 45 also fought, and, like many French aircraft, on both sides of the front.

LeO 45s in various squadrons took part in bombing raids on September 23 and 24, 1940, on British Gibraltar in retaliation for the attack on Dakar. A number of vehicles in three squadrons were transferred to Syria. These squadrons performed a total of 855 sorties. 5 LeO 45s were lost in battle, 12 were destroyed on the ground and 11 were decommissioned due to accidents.

In April 1941, the Germans allowed the resumption of aircraft production in the unoccupied zone of France. The Aviation Ministry of the Vichy government issued a contract to the factories for the production of 225 LeO 45 in Ambier. For production, units and parts were used that were collected in both territories of France. 109 cars were produced, which went to replenish parts, mainly based in Africa.

Several LeO 45s were transferred to the Royal Italian Air Force and flew with the 51st Bomber Group and Bomber Aviation School.

In general, the Luftwaffe LeO 45 as a bomber was not at all interested. Theirs were better, but as a transport aircraft LeO 45 was used by the Germans very willingly. Even at one time, at the plant in Marignane, the production of the LeO 451T transport modification was established for transporting fuel and personnel.

These modified aircraft could carry eight 200-liter barrels of fuel or 17 soldiers. The number of LeO 451 converted to the LeO 451T variant at Marignane in 1943-44 was not very large, but in 1943 these aircraft were equipped with the KGrzbV 700 transport air group.

"African", that is, captured there, LeO 45 with US Air Force insignia transported cargo from the ports of Morocco to forward airfields in Tunisia and Algeria.

By the end of World War II, 67 LeO 45s survived. 45 were in North Africa and 22 in France, most of them in very poor condition.

During 1945-46, the Technical Directorate of the Aviation Industry took over 14 aircraft from those left in France and returned them to the SNCASO plant in Marignane for rework.

Eleven of them were modified into the LeO 451E version (E - Essais - research) and were used as flying laboratories and carriers, for example, for launching missiles.

LeO 45s were redesigned and operated as passenger (6 passengers could move 3500 km at a speed of 400 km / h), search and rescue planes, and cartographic service planes.

The last two LeO 45s were dropped from the SAR in September 1957!

This is how the plane served. There were few centenarians like him. This shows that the plane was very good. Of course, there were also negative moments, but even in the conditions of the war they tried to fight them.

For example, defensive armament from the Hispano-Suiza HS 404 cannon. This is a very good weapon, no doubt about it. Plus the central keel did not interfere with its use. However, the Germans learned, and learned very quickly, that you can hide behind the plumage washer, equalize the speed and calmly open fire.

Unfortunately, without the rudder washer, the plane was very difficult to fly.

The second drawback was the design of the gun itself. The 60-round magazine was heavy and cumbersome. And replacing it sometimes at a very inopportune moment became fatal for the entire crew and aircraft.

However, the LeO 45 was not a victim. There have been cases of very fierce battles between the LeO 45 and Luftwaffe fighters. Still, the French plane had good speed and the ability to maneuver. History has preserved reports (on both sides) of the battle on June 6, 1940, when 15 Messerschmitt fighters Bf-109 and Bf-110 piled on 14 LeO 45s. The bombers shot down three enemy fighters, losing five of their aircraft.

And in 1942, by order of the Vichy government and with the permission of the German occupation forces, the LeO 45 armament was revised.

Speaking about the flight characteristics of the bomber, we can also say the following: the plane was not unambiguously good or bad.

At first there were a lot of "raids" on the LeO 45, the plane was unusual for the majority of French pilots. At takeoff and at low speeds, he behaved simply disgusting, "prowled" and "sank".

As a result, it naturally earned the reputation of a dangerous and unforgiving aircraft.

However, as soon as the LeO 45 took off and picked up speed, it immediately changed. It became, moreover, easily and clearly controlled, without a bomb load, the LeO 45 easily performed the whole complex of aerobatics.

In general, a very capricious lady.

But it was the bomber's ability to somersault in the sky that made it possible to retrain a fairly significant number of pilots for it. Crew distrust was treated in the classic way - test pilots performed amazing demonstration flights in retraining centers and voila - prejudice gave way to enthusiasm.

On the whole, the plane was quite good. Maneuverability, speed up to 480 km / h, sane defensive armament (especially when two more machine guns were added to the cannon), good bomb load and working range deservedly put the LeO 45 in line with the best representatives of medium bombers of that time.

The plane did not win Lavrov solely because it was not used quite correctly and for a short time.

It is not the plane's fault that it was used in attempts to stop the columns of German troops in attacks from low altitude and without fighter cover. The Wehrmacht even then had decent anti-aircraft weapons in regimental structures, and the Luftwaffe simply did not allow the full potential of this bomber to be realized.

But in fact it was the only French Air Force bomber capable of fighting in World War II. He fought.