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The Sud-Est SE.200 Amphitrite (named after
"Six Motored French Air Giant Weighs 63-tons"
''Popular Mechanics'', June 1943 * {{SNCASE aircraft 1940s French airliners Flying boats Lioré et Olivier aircraft SE-0200 Six-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1942
Amphitrite
In ancient Greek mythology, Amphitrite (; grc-gre, Ἀμφιτρίτη, Amphitrítē) was the goddess of the sea, the queen of the sea, and the wife of Poseidon. She was a daughter of Nereus and Doris (or Oceanus and Tethys).Roman, L., & Ro ...
) was a flying boat airliner built in France in the late 1930s,Taylor 1989, 844 originally developed as the Lioré et Olivier LeO H-49 before the nationalisation of the French aircraft industry. It was a large, six-engine design with a high-set cantilever 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 con ...
wing, and twin tail
A twin tail is a specific type of vertical stabilizer arrangement found on the empennage of some aircraft. Two vertical stabilizers—often smaller on their own than a single conventional tail would be—are mounted at the outside of the aircra ...
s. It was developed in response to a French air ministry specification of 1936 for a transatlantic airliner for Air France
Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...
with a range of and capacity for 20 passengers and 500 kg of cargo.Hartmann 2000, 4 Designs were submitted by Latécoère, Lioré et Olivier
Lioré-et-Olivier was a French manufacturer of aircraft of the 20th century, founded in 1912 by Fernand Lioré and Henri Olivier.
History
The ''Société de Constructions Aéronautiques d'hydravions Lioré-et-Olivier'' had three factories, loca ...
and by Potez-CAMS as the Laté 631, LeO H.49 and the Potez-CAMS 161 respectively, and examples of all designs were approved for construction. A large mock-up, resting on simulated water, was displayed at the 1938 ''Salon de l'Aéronautique
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 ...
''.''Flight'' 1 December 1938, 506
Four SE.200s were under construction at Marignane
Marignane (; oc, Marinhana) is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France.
Geography
It is a component of the Aix-Marseille-Provence Metropolis, and the largest suburb of the c ...
at the outbreak of the Second World War, and work on them continued after the fall of France, along with a fifth machine now started. The first aircraft, christened ''Rochambeau'' flew on 11 December 1942.Hartmann 2000, 16 Following testing, it was seized by the German occupation and taken to the Bodensee
Lake Constance (german: Bodensee, ) refers to three bodies of water on the Rhine at the northern foot of the Alps: Upper Lake Constance (''Obersee''), Lower Lake Constance (''Untersee''), and a connecting stretch of the Rhine, called the Lak ...
, where it was destroyed in an air-raid by RAF
The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...
Mosquitos
Mosquitoes (or mosquitos) are members of a group of almost 3,600 species of small flies within the family Culicidae (from the Latin ''culex'' meaning "gnat"). The word "mosquito" (formed by ''mosca'' and diminutive ''-ito'') is Spanish for "litt ...
on 17 April 1944.Hartmann 2000, 18 A USAAF
The United States Army Air Forces (USAAF or AAF) was the major land-based aerial warfare service component of the United States Army and ''de facto'' aerial warfare service branch of the United States during and immediately after World War II ...
raid on Marignane on 16 September destroyed the second SE.200 and badly damaged the other machines.
Enough work on the third SE.200 had been carried out to make salvage worthwhile after the war. This aircraft eventually flew on 2 April 1946 but was damaged in a hard landing in October 1949 and was not repaired.Hartmann 2000, 24 Plans existed to also complete the fourth aircraft, but this did not happen and it and the fifth machine were scrapped. The remains of the first SE.200 were raised by Dornier in 1966.
Operators
; *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 ...
Specifications
See also
References
Notes
Bibliography
* * * * * *"Six Motored French Air Giant Weighs 63-tons"
''Popular Mechanics'', June 1943 * {{SNCASE aircraft 1940s French airliners Flying boats Lioré et Olivier aircraft SE-0200 Six-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1942