__NOTOC__ The Latécoère 26 was a French monoplane

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" ...

designed and built by Latécoère.

Development

The Latécoère 26 was designed in the 1920s as a mail carrier, based on the earlier

Latécoère 25 __NOTOC__ The Latécoère 25 was a French airliner built in 1925 for use on Lignes Aériennes Latécoère, Latécoère's own airline and its subsidiaries. Essentially a refined version of the Latécoère 17 with an enlarged wingspan, it supplante ...

with a longer fuselage, and first flew in 1926. It had a parasol wing with a fixed tailskid landing gear. The main landing gear was both robust and wide-track, to enable the aircraft to land on unprepared surfaces. It was powered by a single nose-mounted

Renault 12Ja Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English; legally Renault S.A.) is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company produces a range of ...

piston engine, and had room for only two passengers and an open cockpit for the pilot.

Operational history

Most of the aircraft were operated by Aéropostale on North and West African mail routes; two aircraft were sold in Argentina.

Variants

;Laté 26 :Initial production variant. ;Laté 26-2-R :Introduced in 1927 it had a radio compartment. ;Laté 26-3 :Added fuel tank in wing centre-section. ;Laté 26-3-R :With a balanced rudder. ;Laté 26-6 :Added a co-pilots cockpit in tandem behind the pilot, different landing gear and increased fuel capacity. ;Laté 26-6/2 :Re-engined with a 500hp (373kW) Renault engine and reduced wing area and tail surfaces.

Operators

; ; * Aéropostale

Specifications (26-2-R)

References