The Latécoère 32 was a

flying boat A flying boat is a type of seaplane with a hull, allowing it to land on water. It differs from a floatplane in having a fuselage that is purpose-designed for flotation, while floatplanes rely on fuselage-mounted floats for buoyancy. Though ...

built in France in 1928 for use on Aéropostale's

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

routes to North Africa.

Development

A strengthened and enlarged version of the

Latécoère 23 The Latécoère 23 was a development of the Latécoère 21 flying boat, a twin-engined parasol winged aircraft. Only one was built, flying and crashing in late 1927. The similar Latécoère 32 was its immediate successor. Design and development ...

, it was a parasol-wing monoplane with sponsons for stability in the water and two engines mounted in tandem push-pull configuration on the wing.

Operational history

Put into service on the

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

–

Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...

and

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

–Algiers routes, the aircraft proved most unreliable and were involved in a number of accidents. At the end of 1931, the five surviving examples were re-engined with Hispano Suiza 12Hbr engines and re-designated Latécoère 32-3, which persisted in service a little longer. Eight Latécoère 32's were built with the following construction numbers (''numéros d'usine'') and registrations:- * n^o77 - F-AILN * n^o78 - F-AILU * n^o79 - F-AILT * n^o80 - F-AISN * n^o81 - F-AISO * n^o82 - F-AIRU * n^o84 - F-AITX * n^o85 - F-AJBK

Variants

* Latécoère 32 - original version with

Farman 12We The Farman 12We was a French W12 engine, 12-cylinder broad arrow configuration aircraft engine that was designed and built by Farman Aviation Works, Farman in the early 1920s. Power output was 370 kilowatts (500 hp). Design and devel ...

engines. * Latécoère 32-3 - remotorised version with Hispano-Suiza 12Hbr engines.

Operators

Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...

* Aéropostale

Specifications (Latécoère 32-3)

References

;Notes ;Bibliography * Cuny, Jean. “Latécoère - Les Avions et Hydravions”.Paris. Docavia/Editions Lariviere. 1992. * Taylor, Michael J.H. . “ Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. Studio Editions. London. 1989.

External links

aviafrance.com

{{DEFAULTSORT:Latecoere 32 1920s French mailplanes Flying boats 3 Twin-engined push-pull aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1928