The Potez 220 was a prototype French twin-engined, three-seat

reconnaissance In military operations, reconnaissance or scouting is the exploration of an area by military forces to obtain information about enemy forces, terrain, and other activities. Examples of reconnaissance include patrolling by troops (skirmisher ...

and

army cooperation aircraft The army cooperation aircraft was an inter-war concept of an aircraft capable of support of ground units in a variety of roles. Army cooperation planes combined the roles of artillery spotter aircraft, liaison, reconnaissance plane and close air su ...

. Two examples were built in 1939, but no production followed.

Design and development

On 6 February 1937, the French air ministry issued specification A.24 for a three-seat reconnaissance and army-cooperation aircraft.Green 1967, p. 64. To meet this requirement, the nationalised Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord ( SNCAN), formed in January 1937 from ANF Les Mureaux, Potez,

Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine Chantiers Aéro-Maritimes de la Seine (CAMS) was a French manufacturer of flying boats, founded in Saint-Ouen in November 1920 by Lawrence Santoni. History Initially the company built Società Idrovolanti Alta Italia (SIAI) designs under licence ...

and parts of Breguet and Amiot,Gunston 2005, p. 337. gave the task to the design team inherited from Les Mureaux. Their design, the Potez 220 was a twin-engined

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 all-metal construction. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

was an oval-section monocoque, which accommodated the aircraft's crew of three, consisting of a pilot, a radio operator gunner and an observer, with a glazed gondola slung under the fuselage provided for the observer. It was powered by two

Gnome-Rhône 14M The Gnome-Rhône 14M was a small 14-cylinder two-row air-cooled radial engine that was used on several French and German aircraft of World War II. While having the same appearance, number of pistons (14) and two-row layout typical of Gnome-Rhô ...

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 driving three-bladed propellers, which were fed from fuel tanks located within the wing. 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 ...

was fitted.Green 1967, pp. 65–66.Breffort and Jouineau 2005, pp. 80–81. The first prototype made its maiden flight at Sartrouville on 7 April 1939, with the second prototype following on 20 October that year. Performance was slightly better than the

Potez 63.11 The Potez 630 and its derivatives were a family of twin-engined, multirole aircraft developed for the French Air Force in the late 1930s. The design was a contemporary of the British Bristol Blenheim (which was larger and designed purely as a b ...

, which had recently entered production in the reconnaissance role, while orders had also been placed for the much more powerful and better-performing

Bloch 174 The Bloch MB.170 and its derivatives were French reconnaissance bombers designed and built shortly before the Second World War. They were the best aircraft of this type available to the at the outbreak of the war, with speed, altitude and mano ...

and Martin 167F aircraft to meet the same requirement as the Potez 220. Development of the type was therefore abandoned.Green 1967, pp. 64, 66.

Specifications

Notes

References

* * * {{Potez aircraft 1930s French military reconnaissance aircraft 070 Aircraft first flown in 1939 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft