The Potez 75 was a low-cost, simple, ground-support, observation and launch aircraft for anti-tank missiles, designed and built in the early 1950s, for use in colonial conflicts. One hundred and fifteen were ordered in 1956, but cancelled in 1957.
Design and development
The Potez 75 was developed by the reformed
Potez
Potez (pronounced ) was a French aircraft manufacturer founded as Aéroplanes Henry Potez by Henry Potez at Aubervilliers in 1919 in aviation, 1919. The firm began by refurbishing war-surplus SEA IV aircraft, but was soon building new examples of ...
Company which had originally been founded by Henry Potez in 1919. The type was designed to meet the requirement for a launching platform for
Nord SS.10
The Nord Aviation SS.10 was a MCLOS wire-guided anti-tank missile designed by the French engineer Jean Bastien-Thiry. In American service, the missile was called the MGM-21A. The missile entered service in 1955 with the French Army. It was ...
wire-guided anti-tank missiles. It was of all-metal construction, with a pusher engine. The twin fins and tailplane were carried on two booms extending from the lower rear fuselage and it was fitted with a fixed tricycle
undercarriage
Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include:
*The landing gear of an aircraft.
*The ch ...
. The missile operator sat in the nose, behind which was a small upper cabin accommodating the pilot.
Initially the operator's cabin had windows and the pilot's position was open, but later modifications enclosed the latter and provided the operator with better visibility by full glazing.
Operational history
The aircraft first flew on 10 June 1953 with experimental registration ''F-ZWSA'', but later as ''F-WGVK'' and finally as the military ''F-MAFY''. It had four 7.5 mm guns in the lower nose and could carry eight under-wing rockets.
It was tested by the French military and found unsatisfactory as a missile platform. It was modified to light
ground attack
In military tactics, close air support (CAS) is defined as air action such as air strikes by fixed or rotary-winged aircraft against hostile targets near friendly forces and require detailed integration of each air mission with fire and movement ...
configuration and tested in the
Algerian War
The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...
, excelling in this role and orders were placed for 15 pre-production and 100 production machines in 1956.
This order was cancelled the following year as part of defence budget cuts. Exhibited at the May 1957
Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
, the prototype was subsequently used as a liaison aircraft and scrapped after crash landing on 16 September 1958.
Specifications
References
Further reading
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{{Potez aircraft
1950s French attack aircraft
075
Twin-boom aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Single-engined pusher aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1953