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The Levasseur PL.10 was a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft developed in France in the late 1920s.Taylor 1989, 575 It was a conventional, single-bay biplane along similar lines to Levasseur's contemporary designs for the French navy, including a watertight, boat-shaped fuselage, small underwing floats, and undercarriage that could be jettisoned in flight in order to improve the changes of a successful ditching.
Thirty of these machines were purchased by the '' Aéronavale'', entering service aboard the carrier ''Béarn'' in 1931 under the designation R3b.Reconnaissance, 3 seat, ''embarqué'' - "shipboard" In 1935, these were followed by thirty examples of an improved version, the PL.101, which replaced the original PL.10s in service aboard the carrier.
The PL.10 also radically revised in the PL.107 torpedo bomber prototypes of 1937. These featured a fully enclosed cockpit that also enclosed the mounting between the fuselage and upper wing, therefore moving the fuselage higher in the interplane gap. To compensate for this, the lower wing was replaced with one of inverse gull design, and the main undercarriage units were moved to its "low points" and provided with spats. Two prototypes were evaluated and rejected by the ''Aéronavale''. Levasseur then made one final attempt to sell the PL.10 design in the PL.108, which was generally similar to the PL.107s. This first flew on 26 September 1939, but proved no more promising than its predecessors.
aviafrance.com
{{Levasseur aircraft 1920s French military reconnaissance aircraft Carrier-based aircraft Levasseur aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1929
The Levasseur PL.10 was a carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft developed in France in the late 1920s.Taylor 1989, 575 It was a conventional, single-bay biplane along similar lines to Levasseur's contemporary designs for the French navy, including a watertight, boat-shaped fuselage, small underwing floats, and undercarriage that could be jettisoned in flight in order to improve the changes of a successful ditching.
Thirty of these machines were purchased by the '' Aéronavale'', entering service aboard the carrier ''Béarn'' in 1931 under the designation R3b.Reconnaissance, 3 seat, ''embarqué'' - "shipboard" In 1935, these were followed by thirty examples of an improved version, the PL.101, which replaced the original PL.10s in service aboard the carrier.
The PL.10 also radically revised in the PL.107 torpedo bomber prototypes of 1937. These featured a fully enclosed cockpit that also enclosed the mounting between the fuselage and upper wing, therefore moving the fuselage higher in the interplane gap. To compensate for this, the lower wing was replaced with one of inverse gull design, and the main undercarriage units were moved to its "low points" and provided with spats. Two prototypes were evaluated and rejected by the ''Aéronavale''. Levasseur then made one final attempt to sell the PL.10 design in the PL.108, which was generally similar to the PL.107s. This first flew on 26 September 1939, but proved no more promising than its predecessors.
Variants
* PL.10 - original version withHispano-Suiza 12L
Hispano-Suiza () is a Spanish automotive–engineering company. It was founded in 1904 by Marc Birkigt and Damian Mateu as an automobile manufacturer and eventually had several factories in Spain and France that produced luxury cars, aircraft en ...
b engine (30 built)
* PL.101 - revised version with Hispano-Suiza 12Lb engine, wider-track undercarriage, and slight sweepback on the wings (30 built)
* PL.107 - torpedo bomber version with enclosed cockpit, new lower wing, spatted undercarriage and Gnome-Rhône 9K
The Gnome-Rhône 9K Mistral was a nine-cylinder 550 hp (405 kW) to 700 hp air-cooled radial engine, that started life as an enlarged Gnome-Rhône 7K with two extra cylinders.
Design and development
The Gnome-Rhône 7K itself was a ...
fr engine (2 built)
* PL.108 - similar to PL.107, but with Hispano-Suiza 9V
The Wright R-1820 Cyclone 9 is an American radial engine developed by Curtiss-Wright, widely used on aircraft in the 1930s through 1950s. It was produced under license in France as the Hispano-Suiza 9V or Hispano-Wright 9V, and in the Soviet Un ...
brs (1 built)
Units using this aircraft
; * Aéronavale **Escadrille 7S1
A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, naval air service, or army air corps; and is usually subservient of a larger squadron. A military aircraft flight is typically composed of four aircraft, though ...
Specifications (PL.101)
Notes
References
*aviafrance.com
{{Levasseur aircraft 1920s French military reconnaissance aircraft Carrier-based aircraft Levasseur aircraft Biplanes Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1929