Lioré & Olivier LeO 45

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Lioré & Olivier LeO 45
Avion profile 01 01.jpg
Leo 451
Type:
Design country:

FranceFrance France

Manufacturer:

Lioré & Olivier

First flight:

January 16, 1937

Commissioning:

1939

Number of pieces:

452

The Lioré & Olivier LeO 45 was a French medium-weight bomber aircraft from 1938. The version adopted in production was named Lioré & Olivier LeO 451 . It was the most modern type of bomber that the Armée de l'air had at the time of the German attack in 1940 in large numbers.

Development and production

In response to the B4 specification published by the Armée de l'air in 1935 for a medium-sized bomber with a four-man crew and a top speed of at least 475 km / h, Lioré & Olivier began work on the LeO project under the direction of Jacques Mercier 45 . The first prototype LeO 45 No 01 had its maiden flight on January 16, 1937 and was powered by Hispano-Suiza 14 Aa engines. At CEMA , the first tests revealed some instabilities in the construction, which led to a revision of the rear of the machine. More serious, however, were the complications with the engines, which, due to their immature cooling system, tended to break down completely on longer flights. This led to an emergency landing on December 6th of that year and subsequently to the revision of the cooling system. In renewed tests at CEMA, the aircraft broke the speed threshold of 500 km / h and the Armée de l'air finally decided in November 1937 to order a pilot series of 20 copies, which were to be delivered by May 1938. The LeO 45 prevailed against the models Amiot 341 , Latécoère 570 and Romano R-120 , which competed with it for the major order to re-equip the bomber formations of the Armée de l'air.

After generally bad experiences with the Hispano-Suiza 14Aa , it was decided in August 1938 to equip the aircraft with more reliable engines of the Gnôme-Rhône 14N type . The modified type was named LeO 451 and was tested again at CEMA from October of that year. The successful tests were immediately followed by an order for 100 copies (in addition to the 20 already ordered). Due to supply problems with the engines and propellers, the first two series machines could not be delivered until March and April 1939. Depending on availability, either Gnôme-Rhône 14N38 / 39 or Gnôme-Rhône 14N48 / 49 engines and propellers from the same manufacturer were installed during production . Overall, the pattern achieved roughly the same performance as the LeO 45.

Extensive experimental flights were carried out with the first series machines in the spring of 1939 and, due to the good flight performance of the type, orders were expanded to 737 machines for the Armée de l'air by September of that year, five of which were named LeO 457, equipment for high altitudes and Ten pieces under the designation LeO 458 were to receive on a trial basis 1600 hp Wright R-2600-A5B Cyclone-14 engines from the USA . Greece also ordered twelve of the standard version for its air forces. By this time, however, only 22 machines had been produced, which is why production was expanded to other plants in the (now nationalized ) aviation industry. There were even plans for an underground work near Auxerre , but they were never realized. At the time of the armistice, over 1,700 machines of all variants had been ordered. By then, however, only 452 had been completed, of which only 373 had found their way into the bomber squadrons of the Armée de l'air.

At the beginning of the Second World War there was an underground factory for the assembly of the LeO 458 in the quarries of Palotte in Cravant .

After the Germans had allowed Vichy France to resume production of aircraft under supervision in autumn 1941, a further 168 units of the type were produced until the Vichy Air Force was disbanded in November 1942.

The following additional versions were initially planned:

construction

The Lioré & Olivier 451 was a low- wing aircraft in full metal construction with two engines and a double vertical tail . The fuselage construction consisted of 60 fuselage frames, which were connected with metal struts and clad with aluminum sheet . The nose cone was glazed and contained a fixed 7.5 mm machine gun type MAC 1934 . Another machine gun pointing backwards could be pulled out from under the fuselage with a gondola. The LeO 451 also possessed in the rear upper part of the hull over a 20 mm cannon type Hispano-Suiza HS-404 with ammunition for 120 shots.

In the middle of the fuselage was a relatively small bomb bay compared to other types. The bomb capacity was therefore supplemented by two further smaller bomb bays in the wing roots. The landing gear was retractable into the engine nacelles. The first engine used was a 1,078 hp (793 kW) Hispano-Suiza 14Aa-8/9 - radial engine which proved over time to be unreliable and therefore later by a slightly stronger Gnome-Rhone 14N was replaced. The propeller was a three-bladed, adjustable metal propeller made by Ratier .

commitment

When the German attack began in the west on May 10, 1940, a total of 94 LeO 451 aircraft were registered in the Armée de l'air bomber squadrons . Numerous squadrons were in a conversion phase at this time and received their new aircraft in the following six weeks until the armistice. A total of 373 machines flew combat missions. Including a very successful attack on German troops near Montcornet on May 16, 1940 ( Groupe de Bombardement I / 12 , Groupe de Bombardement II / 12 and Groupe de Bombardement I / 31 ) as well as a failed night attack on the BMW plants due to bad weather conditions Munich on June 4th. A LeO 451 was lost over Munich. During these attacks, the LeO 451 clearly demonstrated their effectiveness as bombers at altitudes of 5,000 m. The high number of losses of 130 aircraft at the end of the Battle of France is primarily due to risky missions for ground combat support.

Due to the rapid advance of the Germans, starting on June 14th, many groupes were gradually ordered to leave for North Africa . In the last mission of a squadron equipped with LeO 451, four machines of the Groupe de Bombardement II / 11 attacked Palermo in Italy on June 23, 1940 .

In the greatly reduced air force in Vichy France, almost 100 LeO 451s in six groupes did their service. At first they only carried out isolated small actions against the British without causing any significant damage. Almost 50 aircraft (from Groupe de Bombardement I / 2 , Groupe de Bombardement I / 31 and Groupe de Bombardement I / 25 ) took an active part in the fighting over Syria and Lebanon in the summer of 1941 , where they suffered heavy losses as a result of British bombing raids on their airfields .

After Operation Torch , the units remaining on the French side went over to the Allies , but were no longer able to participate effectively in the war, mainly because spare parts for the already aging LeO 451 were hardly available.

The machines captured by the Germans during the occupation of Vichy France at the end of 1942 found their way into the Luftwaffe and Regia Aeronautica , where they were used for training and transport purposes. a. in the IV. Group of Transport Wing 4 were used.

Countries of operation

Technical specifications

Three-sided view of the LeO 45
Parameter Data Lioré & Olivier LeO 451
crew 4th
length 17.17 m
span 22.50 m
height 5.23 m
Wing area 68.00 m²
Wing extension 7.4
Empty mass 6,370 kg
Takeoff mass 11,400 kg
Top speed 495 km / h at 4,800 m
Rate of climb 357 m / min (6 m / s)
Service ceiling 9000 m
Range 2300 km
Engines two Gnome-Rhône 14N with approx. 1150 HP (depending on the variant)
Armament a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS-404 cannon with 120 rounds,
two 7.5 mm MG MAC 1934
1,500 kg bomb load

Comparable patterns

See also

literature

  • Dominique Breffort / André Jouineau / Alan McKay (translator): French Aircraft from 1939 to 1942 Volume 2: From Dewoitine to Potez , Histoire & Collections, ISBN 2-915239-49-5 (English)
  • Kenneth Munson: The World War II Planes. Motorbuch-Verlag, Stuttgart 1999, ISBN 3-87943-302-X
  • Chris Chant: Bomber. Tosa Verlag, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85492-326-0
  • Jet & Prop, issues 4/2000 and 5/2000

Web links

Commons : Lioré et Olivier LeO 45  - Collection of images, videos and audio files