The Amiot 354 was the last in a series of fast, twin-engine

bomber A bomber is a military combat aircraft designed to attack ground and naval targets by dropping air-to-ground weaponry (such as bombs), launching torpedoes, or deploying air-launched cruise missiles. The first use of bombs dropped from an air ...

s which fought with the French Air Force in limited numbers during the Battle of France.

Development

The Amiot 350 series originated in the same 1934 requirement as a rival to the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451. Derived from the Amiot 341

mail plane A mail plane is an aircraft used for carrying mail. Aircraft that were purely mail planes existed almost exclusively prior to World War II. Because early aircraft were too underpowered to carry cargoes, and too costly to run any "economy class" ...

, the Amiot 340 prototype was involved in a propaganda flight to Berlin in August 1938 to convince the Germans that the French employed modern bombers. Though 130 machines were ordered by the French government that year, production delays and modifications ensured that by September 1939 none had been delivered. 830 of this very modern aircraft were eventually ordered but only 80 machines were received by the Air Ministry. The main variant was the twin-tailed 351; due to delays, the single-tailed 354 was accepted into service as an interim type. The Amiot 351 was intended to carry a

MAC 1934 The MAC 1934 is a machine gun of French origin. It is effectively the aircraft variant of the Reibel machine gun. History In 1934, the ''Manufacture d'Armes de Châtellerault'' (Châtellerault weapons manufacturing company, often shortened to ' ...

machine gun A machine gun is a fully automatic, rifled autoloading firearm designed for sustained direct fire with rifle cartridges. Other automatic firearms such as automatic shotguns and automatic rifles (including assault rifles and battle rifles) ar ...

in nose and ventral positions and a

Hispano-Suiza HS.404 The HS.404 is an autocannon originally designed and produced by Spanish/French company Hispano-Suiza in the mid-1930s. It was widely used as an aircraft, naval and land-based weapon by French, British, American and other military services, par ...

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

in the dorsal position. Due to technical problems with the armament installation, many aircraft went to operational units with only a rifle-calibre machine-gun in the dorsal position.

Operational history

In May 1940, the Amiot 351/354 was in the process of equipping just two bomber ''groupes'': GB 1/21 and GB II/21 based at Avignon. Though 200 were in the final stages of construction, only 35 were ready for flight. This situation was exacerbated by the Amiot 351/354 being built in three factories, two of which were later bombed by the Germans. On 16 May 1940, the Amiot 351/354s carried out armed reconnaissance sorties over

Maastricht Maastricht ( , , ; li, Mestreech ; french: Maestricht ; es, Mastrique ) is a city and a municipality in the southeastern Netherlands. It is the capital and largest city of the province of Limburg. Maastricht is located on both sides of the ...

in the Netherlands - the first operation conducted by planes of this type. By June, the Amiot 351/354 was also delivered for GB I/34 and GB II/34, neither flying them in combat. At that time, all Amiot 351/354s were based on the northern front. Three had been lost in combat and ten in training accidents. All aircraft were ordered to evacuate to Africa on 17 June, 37 surviving the trip. As their numbers were too few to engage the

Italians , flag = , flag_caption = The national flag of Italy , population = , regions = Italy 55,551,000 , region1 = Brazil , pop1 = 25–33 million , ref1 = , region2 ...

, the aircraft were sent back to Metropolitan France and their ''groupes'' disbanded in August 1940. Five Amiot 351/354s continued to be used as mail planes after the Battle of France. Four Amiot 351/354s were commandeered by the ''

Luftwaffe The ''Luftwaffe'' () was the aerial-warfare branch of the German ''Wehrmacht'' before and during World War II. Germany's military air arms during World War I, the ''Luftstreitkräfte'' of the Imperial Army and the '' Marine-Fliegerabtei ...

'' as transports, two found service in the 1./ ''Kampfgeschwader'' 200 a special service unit. Engines taken from these aircraft were later used on

Messerschmitt Me 323 The Messerschmitt Me 323 ''Gigant'' ("Giant") was a German military transport aircraft of World War II. It was a powered variant of the Me 321 military glider and was the largest land-based transport aircraft to fly during the war. A total of 21 ...

cargo transports.

Variants

Amiot 356 front photo L'Aerophile December 1942

Amiot 370 photo L'Aerophile December 1938

;Amiot 340.01 :Two 686 kW (920 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14P, single-tail prototype (one built) ;Amiot 350 : 351 re-engined with two 686 kW (920 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Y-28 /

Hispano-Suiza 12Y-29 The Hispano-Suiza 12Y was an aircraft engine produced by Hispano-Suiza for the French Air Force before the Second World War. The 12Y became the primary French 1,000 hp (750 kW) class engine and was used in a number of famous aircraft ...

engines (one built) ;Amiot 351.01 : Amiot 351 prototype. ;Amiot 351 : Two 707 kW (950 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14N-38 / Gnome-Rhône 14N-39, twin-tail (17) (This number may be low) ;Amiot 352 : 351 re-engined with two 820 kW (1,100 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Y-50 / Hispano-Suiza 12Y-51 engines (one built) ;Amiot 353 : 351 re-engined with two 768 kW (1,030 hp) Rolls-Royce Merlin III engines (one built) ;Amiot 354 : 351 re-engined with two 798 kW (1,070 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14N-48 / Gnome-Rhône 14N-49, most with single-tail. (45) (This number is probably low) ;Amiot 355.01 : 351 re-engined with two 895 kW (1,200 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14R-2 / Gnome-et-Rhone 14R-3 engines (one built) ;Amiot 356.01 : 354 re-engined with two 842 kW (1,130 hp) Rolls-Royce Merlin X engines (one built) ;Amiot 357 : high-altitude prototype with

pressurized {{Wiktionary Pressurization or pressurisation is the application of pressure in a given situation or environment. Industrial Industrial equipment is often maintained at pressures above or below atmospheric. Atmospheric This is the process by ...

cabin, two 895 kW (1,200 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Z-89 turbocharged engines (one built) ;Amiot 358 : 351 re-engined post-war with two 895 kW (1,200 hp) Pratt & Whitney R-1830 engines (one built) ;Amiot 370 : single-tail racer with two 642 kW (860 hp) Hispano-Suiza 12Yirs / Hispano-Suiza 12Yjrs engines, developed specifically for (later cancelled) Paris-New York race (one built)

Operators

; * '' Armee de l'Air'' ; * ''

Specifications (Amiot 354 B4)

Notes

Bibliography

* Breffort, Dominique & Jouineau, André. ''French Aircraft from 1939 to 1942'' * * * Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Seven Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft''. London:Macdonald, 1967. * Weal, Elke C., Weal, John A., Barker, Richard F. ''Combat Aircraft of World War Two'' * Various issues of Avions magazine

External links

* http://www.avions-bateaux.com {{Amiot aircraft 354 1930s French bomber aircraft Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft