Latécoère 631

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Latécoère 631
Laté 631
Type: Flying boat
Design country:

FranceFrance France

Manufacturer:

Latécoère

First flight:

November 4, 1942

Number of pieces:

10 + 1 unfinished

The Latécoère 631 , or Laté 631 for short , was a six-engine flying boat made by the French manufacturer Latécoère in the 1940s. A prototype of the type designed for up to 70 passengers was built during the Second World War and ten series machines after the end of the war. Due to several crashes and competition from land planes, the mission ended after a few years. When it first appeared, the Latécoère 631 was the largest flying boat in the world.

history

The Latécoère 631 was created on the basis of a tender by the French government on March 12, 1936, which had requested a flying boat for 40 passengers. It was intended for the routes between the motherland and its colonies . The range should be 6,000 kilometers, the average speed required was 300 km / h. The Laté 631 was created in competition with the Potez-CAMS 161 and the Lioré & Olivier H-49 , from which the Sud-Est SE.200 was later to emerge.

The first drafts were submitted in September 1936 and on April 15, 1937 the company received an order from the State Direction des Constructions Aériennes to build a prototype of the Latécoère 630. In the summer of 1937, the requirements were changed. So the weight of the machine should now be more than 60 tons instead of 40, which led to the enlargement of the now called Latécoère 631 and the planned installation of stronger Hispano-Suiza 12 Y instead of the Gnome & Rhône  18P. In August 1937, a full-size wind tunnel model was finally ordered by the ministry. However, the order to build a prototype worth 32.2 million francs was not placed until April 28, 1938, and at the same time the order to build the prototype of the competing product SE.200 was placed. Production of the first parts began in 1938, but construction was stopped for the time being due to the outbreak of war and therefore more important projects. Nevertheless, the development under the Vichy government continued slowly and on March 19, 1941 even another prototype was ordered. The first prototype was completed in the summer of 1942, whereby the flight tests were to take place together with the SE.200 and CAMS 161 in Marignane , which resulted in the machine being dismantled for road transport. The first flight of the F-BAHG with test pilot Pierre Crespy on board took place on November 4, 1942. During a test flight on the following day, the aircraft was damaged during a rough landing on the water, as the control of the flaps on the ailerons had broken during the flight , which resulted in strong vibrations. The machine was repaired, but there was another hard landing on the ninth flight on December 23, 1942, in which the fuselage was damaged. In the meantime, the government had ordered two more prototypes. In the spring of 1943 the machine was painted gray and given a German military license plate. During the tenth test flight on June 22, 1943, Lufthansa pilot Hans Werner von Engel was the first to have a German on board. Shortly afterwards, the German Wehrmacht confiscated the aircraft and moved it to Lake Constance on January 22, 1944 , where the flight tests were now to take place under the supervision of Deutsche Lufthansa. There it was sunk in March 1944 by an air raid by the Royal Air Force together with the SE.200. A second, almost completed copy could be protected from access by the Germans. After its completion, Crespy took off on March 6, 1945 in Biscarrosse for the first flight. After the liberation of France, the French government ordered five series machines. The plane was supposed to take off for South America on October 15, 1945 as a commercial flight. However, when maneuvering before the start, a buoy was rammed, which delayed the start until October 23, 1945. It reached Rio de Janeiro 18.5 hours later . Nevertheless, the flight was a failure, as parts of the propeller loosened from the engine due to a problem with the Ratier propellers during the start of the onward flight to Montevideo , broke through the fuselage and killed two journalists. In the process, two of the motors loosened from their anchoring, which meant repairs that took months.

construction

The Laté 631 was an all-metal aircraft designed as a high- wing aircraft with a double vertical tail. The six Wright Cyclone radial engines were attached to the leading edges of the wings. Two of the six engines would have been enough to ensure a safe flight.

Inside there was space for 46 people in two- or four-bed cabins, the maximum capacity was 70 passengers. The cockpit was above the passenger area.

use

From July 5, 1947, three Air France flying boats served the route to Fort-de-France twice a month . After the crash of two of these aircraft on February 21, 1948 (F-BDRD) and on July 31, 1948 (F-BDRC), killing 20 and 40 passengers respectively, Air France abandoned the passenger service and wanted the aircraft only for freight transport use. The third machine crashed on March 28, 1950 when the left wing broke due to material fatigue. From 1951, individual Laté 631s served the route from France via Ceylon to French Indochina . One machine came into the possession of the Société France-Hydro and served as a cargo plane in Equatorial Africa until it was lost over Cameroon on September 10, 1955 .

After four machines were lost in crashes between February 1948 and March 1950, the operators gradually took this type of aircraft out of service. In 1955, the last flying boat was retired and the remaining planes were scrapped.

Incidents

  • On October 31, 1945, the propeller of the left engine No. 3 on a Latécoère 631 of Air France ( aircraft registration F-BANT ) in Laguna de Rocha (Uruguay) broke open and slit the fuselage to almost 3 meters in length. Two passengers were killed in the process. Since a small fire broke out, an emergency landing was carried out in the lagoon .

Technical specifications

Parameter Data
crew 5-6
length 43.50 m
span 57.40 m
height 10.10 m
Draft 1.75 m with a weight of 70 t
Wing area 350 m²
payload 46–70 passengers or 9270 kg
Empty mass 32,332 kg
Takeoff mass Max. 71,350 kg
Cruising speed 320 km / h
Top speed 405 km / h
Range 6,000 km
Engines six radial engines Wright Cyclone 2600 -A5B with 1191 kW each

See also

Web links

Commons : Latécoère 631  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Latécoère 631 - Jump across the Atlantic. In: FlugRevue. February 2012, pp. 84–87.
  2. ↑ The Latécoère 631 . In: Klassiker-der-luftfahrt.de. Aviation Classic, January 2010, archived from the original on February 15, 2017 ; accessed on February 15, 2017 .
  3. ^ Accident report Latécoère 631 F-BANT , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 29, 2015.
  4. ↑ Air-Britain Archive: Casualty compendium part 47 (English), December 1992, p. 110.
  5. ^ Accident report Latécoère 631 F-BDRC , Aviation Safety Network (English), accessed on November 23, 2017.