The Air Ministry's STAe established in 1928 a specification for a multi-purpose airplane. Derived from the Amiot 140, an all-metal construction battle pole, the Amiot 143 is a twin-engine bomber that can be described as not very elegant. The prototype made its first flight at the beginning of August 1934.
A few months later, he was ordered 113 serial copies in front of all beings delivered before the end of 1935. But the first series are taken into account by the Air Force With one year late. An order for 25 additional machines was made in April 1937
The Amiot 143 was characterized by a powerful chassis and robustness. Equipped with a two-deck fuselage, it had a thick wing that allowed the crew to access the engines even in flight. It differentiated mainly from the Amiot 140 by its Gnome-and-Rhone star engines instead of the Hispano-Suiza in-line engines. Several versions were produced, differentiated by the length of the fuselage, the nose being elongated by 30 cm, and by the arming and installation of the tanks. The bomb charge was split between a fuselage bunker and four bomb throwers under the wings.
The Am.143 were to be retired from service as soon as possible in 1938, after the new plan for modernization of aviation was drafted. But in September 1939, four Air Force bombing squadrons were still equipped with Amiot 143 considered to be obsolete aircraft for the time. They carried out exclusive leaf-drop missions over Germany during the "Funny War".
At the time of the declaration of war in May 1940, 126 Am.143 were still in service, 91 of them in operational units. They carried out night bombing of Germany and even of day and low-level attacks on the Meuse bridges in the Sedan region. They suffered heavy losses.
At the armistice, more than 70 were left in the free zone and in North Africa, and they took part in the airlift during the Syrian campaign in June 1941. They were then used as a transport aircraft for the Allies in Africa North and the last copies were retired from service in February 1944. A total of 138 units were built from 1935 to 1938.
Specifications :
Length 18,24 m
Height 5.7 m
Wing span 24.5 m
Wing area 100,0 m²
Drive two 14-cylinder star motors
Gnome & Rhône 14Kirs with 640 kW (870 hp)
Maximum speed 310 km / h
Service height 7,900 m
Range 1,200 km
Crew 5 men
Empty weight 6,100 kg
Max. takeof weight 10,360 kg
Arming a 7.5 mm MG MAC 1934 in the bowtower, 1 MG in the deck tower, 1 MG under the hull
1,600 kg bombsloading
0 commentaires :
Post a Comment