Potez Aircraft - Potez 15, Potez 25, Potez 29, Potez 32, Potez 36, Potez 39, Potez 43, Potez 452, Potez 53, Potez 540, Potez 56, Potez (Paperback)

Please note that the content of this book primarily consists of articles available from Wikipedia or other free sources online. Pages: 19. Chapters: Potez 15, Potez 25, Potez 29, Potez 32, Potez 36, Potez 39, Potez 43, Potez 452, Potez 53, Potez 540, Potez 56, Potez 58, Potez 60, Potez 62, Potez 630, Potez 650, Potez 661, Potez 662, Potez 75, Potez 840, Potez IX, Potez SEA VII, Potez X. Excerpt: The Potez 630 and its derivatives were a family of twin-engined aircraft developed for the Armee de l'Air in the late 1930s. The design was a contemporary of the British Bristol Blenheim and the German Messerschmitt Bf 110. The original Potez 630 was built to meet the requirements of a 1934 heavy fighter specification which also resulted in the successful Breguet 690 series of attack aircraft. The prototype first flew in 1936 and proved to have excellent handling qualities. The Potez 630 was a twin engine, monoplane, fully metallic three-seater with efficient aerodynamic lines and twin tailplanes. The long glasshouse hosted the pilot, an observer or commander who was only aboard if the mission required it, and a rear gunner who manned a single flexible light machine gun. Only very minor changes were required and an order for 80 was placed in 1937. Simultaneously 80 Potez 631 C3 fighters were ordered, these having Gnome-Rhone 14M radial engines rather than the Hispano-Suiza 14AB10/11 of the Potez 630. Fifty additional Potez 631s were ordered in 1938 of which 20 were diverted to Finland, although they never reached that country. The Potez 630's engines proved so troublesome that most units had re-equipped with the Potez 631 before World War two began. The latter was an ineffectual interceptor, slower than some German bombers and 130 km/h slower than the Bf 109E, although it continued in service until the armistice. A Potez 630 captured during the Syria-Lebanon Campaign, 1941.The Potez 633 saw only brief operational service with the Armee de l'Air in Europe when aircraft from two units undertook a sortie near Arras on May 20, 1940; two days later the aircraft was withdrawn from front-line service. The Potez 633 exported to Greece and Romania saw more extensive service, in limited numbers. The Romanians used them against the USSR and the Greeks against Italy. A small number of Potez 633 originally destined for China were commandeered by the French colonial administratio