The Loire 210 was a French single-seat catapult-launched fighter seaplane designed and built by

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 Rhône ...

for the

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

Design and development

The Loire 210 was designed to meet a 1933 French Navy requirement for a single-seat catapult-launched fighter seaplane. The prototype first flew at

Saint Nazaire Saint-Nazaire (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Saint-Nazère/Saint-Nazaer'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Loire-Atlantique Departments of France, department in western France, in traditional Brittany. The town has a major harbour on the ...

on 21 March 1935.Green 1962, p. 45. The fuselage came from the earlier

Loire 46 The Loire 46 was a French single-seater fighter aircraft of the 1930s. A high-winged monoplane designed and built by Loire Aviation, it was purchased by the French Air Force. It was also supplied to the Spanish Republican forces during the Spanis ...

fitted with a new low-wing which was foldable for shipboard stowage. It had a large central float and two underwing auxiliary floats and was powered by a single nose-mounted Hispano-Suiza 9Vbs radial engine. The prototype was evaluated by the French Navy against the Bernard H 110, Potez 453 and Romano R.90 with the 210 achieving a production order for 20 aircraft in March 1937. The production aircraft were fitted with four wing-mounted

Darne machine gun The Darne machine gun is a machine gun of French origin. Development The French gun-making company Darne, which became famous for its innovative shotguns, began making military weapons in 1915, when it was contracted by French government to man ...

s (the prototype had only two).

Operational history

The aircraft entered service with the French Navy in August 1939, within three months five aircraft had been lost due to structural failure of the wing. All the remaining aircraft were grounded and withdrawn from use.

Variants

;Loire 210.01 :First prototype aircraft. ;Loire 210 :Single-seat fighter seaplane. ;Loire 211 :Prototype with a more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14K engine.

Operators

; *

** Escadrille HC.1 ** Escadrille HC.2

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Green, William. ''War Planes of the Second World War: Volume Six Floatplanes''. London: Macdonald, 1962. * Green, William and F. Gordon Swanborough. ''The Complete Book of Fighters''. London: Smithmark, 1994. . * ''The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft'' (Part Work 1982–1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985. * Taylor, John W. R., and Jean Alexander. Combat Aircraft of the World. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. * Taylor, Michael J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation.'' London: Studio Editions, 1989.

External links

Loire 210 - Hydravion de chasse - Un siècle d'aviation française
''Aviafrance''. {{Loire aircraft

210 Year 210 ( CCX) was a common year starting on Monday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Faustinus and Rufinus (or, less frequently, year 963 ''Ab urbe condita ...

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