The Loire-Nieuport 10 was a 1930s
French
French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to:
* Something of, from, or related to France
** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents
** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...
prototype long-range maritime reconnaissance and combat
floatplane
A floatplane is a type of seaplane with one or more slender floats mounted under the fuselage to provide buoyancy. By contrast, a flying boat uses its fuselage for buoyancy. Either type of seaplane may also have landing gear suitable for land, ...
produced by Loire-Nieuport, a joint venture between
Loire Aviation
The Loire (, also ; ; oc, Léger, ; la, Liger) is the longest river in France and the 171st longest in the world. With a length of , it drains , more than a fifth of France's land, while its average discharge is only half that of the Rhôn ...
and
Nieuport-Delage. It was an attempt to answer the requirements for the Navy's programme ''Hydravion éclaireur de combat'' ("Combat reconnaissance seaplane") for a large floatplane capable of acting as a
torpedo bomber or reconnaissance aircraft.
Development and design
Design of the Loire-Nieuport 10 started in 1937, with the resultant aircraft being a twin-engined
monoplane of all-metal
stressed-skin
In mechanical engineering, stressed skin is a type of rigid construction, intermediate between monocoque and a rigid frame with a non-loaded covering. A stressed skin structure has its compression-taking elements localized and its tension-taking e ...
construction with
inverted gull (or W-shaped) wings. It was powered by two Gnome-Rhône 14N
radial engines mounted above the wings, with the twin large floats on pylons under the wing, directly beneath the engines. The deep fuselage accommodated a crew of six, with pilot and co-pilot seated in tandem, while a glazed nose was provided for the bomb-aimer/navigator. Defensive armament was a
machine gun in the nose, with another firing through a ventral hatch, and a 20 mm cannon in a dorsal turret, while it could carry two torpedoes or 1,200 kg (2,700 lb) of bombs in an internal bomb-bay.
[Green 1963, p.47.]
The prototype Loire-Nieuport 10, the L.N.10-01, first flew at
Saint-Nazaire
Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a commune in the Loire-Atlantique department in western France, in traditional Brittany.
The town has a major harbour on the right bank of the Loire estuary, near the Atlantic Ocean ...
on 21 July 1939.
However, on 10 December 1939, the programme was cancelled as the French Navy had decided to use land based aircraft instead, with no production following of either the LN.10 or its competitors. It was destroyed at
Bordeaux in June 1940 to prevent capture by German troops.
The fuselage of the Loire-Nieuport 10 was used for the
SNCAO 700 four-engined bomber prototype, of which a prototype was built but failed to fly due to the
Armistice.
[Green 1967, pp. 148-149.]
Specifications
See also
References
* Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Six, Floatplanes''. London:Macdonald, 1962.
* Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Seven, Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft''. London:Macdonald, 1967.
External links
Aviafrance
{{Loire aircraft
1930s French military reconnaissance aircraft
Floatplanes
Inverted gull-wing aircraft
LN.010
Aircraft first flown in 1939
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft