The Dewoitine D.770 was a prototype French twin-engined

attack aircraft An attack aircraft, strike aircraft, or attack bomber is a tactical military aircraft that has a primary role of carrying out airstrikes with greater precision than bombers, and is prepared to encounter strong low-level air defenses while pre ...

of the late 1930s. It was intended as a replacement for the

Breguet 693 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

but testing was incomplete by the time that France surrendered to Germany, and no production followed.

Design and development

In August 1937, the ''Service Technique de l'Aeronautique'' (or French Air Ministry) released a specification for a light attack bomber. The Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Midi ( SNCAM), the nationalised

Dewoitine Constructions Aéronautiques Émile Dewoitine was a French aircraft manufacturer established by Émile Dewoitine at Toulouse in October 1920. The company's initial products were a range of metal parasol-wing fighters which were largely ignored by th ...

company, proposed a three-seater twin-engined aircraft to meet this requirement, with two prototypes being ordered, with the Dewoitine D.770 to be powered by two Hispano-Suiza 12Y

V12 engine A V12 engine is a twelve-cylinder piston engine where two banks of six cylinders are arranged in a V configuration around a common crankshaft. V12 engines are more common than V10 engines. However, they are less common than V8 engines. The fi ...

s and the Dewoitine D.771 to be powered by two Gnome-Rhône 14N

radial engine The radial engine is a reciprocating type internal combustion engine configuration in which the cylinders "radiate" outward from a central crankcase like the spokes of a wheel. It resembles a stylized star when viewed from the front, and is ca ...

s but otherwise similar to the D.770.Green ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Eight'' 1967, p. 27. In the meantime, it was decided to adapt the Breguet 690 twin-engined fighter aircraft to an attack aircraft, with 200

Breguet 691 Breguet or Bréguet may refer to: * Breguet (watch), watch manufacturer **Abraham-Louis Breguet (1747–1823), Swiss watchmaker **Louis-François-Clement Breguet (1804–1883), French physicist, watchmaker, electrical and telegraph work * Bréguet ...

attack aircraft ordered in June 1938.Green ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Seven'' 1967, p. 136. The prototype D.770 was completed at SNCAM's

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

factory in the spring of 1939. It was a mid-winged

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

of stressed skin all-metal construction, with a monocoque fuselage and a retractable

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynami ...

. A 20-mm cannon and two 7.5 mm machine guns were mounted in the aircraft's nose, and could be depressed to an angle of -15 degrees aimed by the pilot. A single machine gun was flexibly mounted in the dorsal position, with two more machine guns in a ventral position, while eight bombs could be carried in a bomb-bay. The crew of three were protected by of armour.Green ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Eight'' 1967, pp. 27–29. The D.770 made its maiden flight on 27 June 1939, flown by test pilot Marcel Doret. While the aircraft demonstrated good speed, it suffered from engine cooling problems and poor stability, and testing was slow, and was not complete in June 1940 when the French surrender resulting in the test programme being abandoned. Although the D.771 was completed in December 1939, it never flew, as the French Air Force by now preferred the larger and more capable Bloch 175 and SNCAM were busy with the more urgent

Dewoitine D.520 The Dewoitine D.520 was a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War. The D.520 was designed in response to a 1936 requirement from the French Air Force for a fast, modern fi ...

fighter. Both prototypes were scrapped in 1941.

Specifications (D.770)

Notes

References

* *

External links

Dewoitine D-770
{{Dewoitine aircraft 1930s French bomber aircraft D.770 Mid-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1939 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft