New Items - CV Bearn

[av8rmongo]

In the picture of the French CV Bearn on the new items page it looks like she has some twin engine aircraft on deck. Can anyone tell me what those are?

Paul

[HMSDiomede]

There was a proposed design for a twin-engine naval strike aircraft somewhat similar to the Breguet 693. It was intended to form part of the air group for the uncompleted carrier Joffre. I don't think it ever flew, even in prototype form, before the Armistice halted development. Can't recall the designation for the type off the top of my head.

David

[Donald M. Scheef]

In the late 1930 the French Programme Technique A47 requested designs for a twin-engine two/three place torpedo/reconnaissance bomber capable from operating from the new generation of aircraft carriers under consideration. Two designs were selected for prototype construction - the C.A.O.600 and the Dewoitine D.750. Both were conventional layout monoplanes with twin tails and a particularly hideous fuselage design featuring two-step windshields (the upper for the pilot and the lower for the navagator/bombardier).

The C.A.O.600 featured Gnome-Rhone 14M 14-cylinder radial engines and had rectangular vertical tail surfaces. The D.750 had Renault 12R 06/07 12-cylinder air-cooled inverted-V engines with oval vertical tail surfaces.

Both companies were contracted to build two prototypes. In both cases, the first prototype was completed and had flown and the second prototype was approaching completion when the German invasion halted all further work.

From the photograph of the [i]Bearn[/i], I think the C.A.O.600 is the aircraft modeled. It should be noted that neither of these aircraft would have been based on the [i]Bearn[/i], as its deck and elevators were too small for efficient employment of these relatively large aircraft. The aircraft were intended for use on the larger [i]Joffre [/i]class, which were never launched.

[HMSDiomede]

Thanks, Donald! I didn't realize the development on the aircraft had progressed that far. Pictures and stats for the two types (in Russian, sorry):

Dewoitine D.750:

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/spyww2/d750.html

SNCAO C.A.O.600:

http://www.airwar.ru/enc/spyww2/cao600.html

David

[av8rmongo]

Thanks for the information. Has anyone purchased the Bearn yet? If these twin engine planes aren't really correct for the Bearn could they be modified to represent any other twin engine aircraft that saw more action like an Me 110 maybe?

Paul

[mlcolbert]

David if you or anyone else wants a rough translation of the two pages let me know. The wife is Russian (from Volgograd no less! ) so it would be easy to provide a rough outline as I say.

michael

[mlcolbert]

David if you or anyone else wants a rough translation of the two pages let me know. The wife is Russian (from Volgograd no less! ) so it would be easy to provide a rough outline as I say.

michael

[Donald M. Scheef]

With respect to av8rmongo's idea of converting these aircraft into something else, I wouldn't try. I don't know of any other aircraft, much less one that had significant combat exposure, that had a fuselage anything like the hunchback arrangement of these. Actually, I was considering taking the opposite approach - scratch building a Joffre so that I would have something appropriate to carry them.

I think GHQ erred in selecting the twin-engine planes for the Bearn. The single-engine planes parked closer to the stern seem more promising. I can't quite make out their identity in the photo and haven't purchased one yet (I'm concentrating on surface forces for the time being). There are several possible candidates. The engines are obviously in-line. My first guess is Dewoitine D.520, a single-engine single-place fighter produced in significant numbers. I don't think this was used in a shipboard role, however.

Another possibility is the Late 299, a single-engined torpedo bomber with an in-line engine. This craft had a rather long greenhouse for the crew, so doesn't seem to match what I can make out in the photo.

When/if I get around to building Joffre (I doubt that this is a likely item for mass production - never built & doesn't have the emotional appeal of Montana, etc.) this is what I would put on it:
- Fighters: Either Bloch 720 (proposed but never-built naval version of Bloch MB-150 single-place single radial-engine) or my own hypothetical naval version of Arsenal VG-30 series (a really-nice looking in-line engine fighter that never got into production). VG-30 has the advantage of common engine with Late 299 and LN.40.
- Torpedo bombers: Late 299
- Dive bombers: Loire-Nieuport LN.40 - a single-engine, single-place aircraft. This was built for land base, but in my opinion could easily have been navalized.

D. Scheef

[av8rmongo]

D. Sheef,

Thanks for the very useful information. I've decided against the purchase for now. I'm eagerly awaiting the time when GHQ will produce all the other types as 1/2400 scale aircraft and I don't have to modify existing types anymore.

Paul

[Donald M. Scheef]

I have finally purchased FRN10, CV Bearn, and taken a close look at the aircraft provided with the model.

The single-engine aircraft are indeed Dewoitine D.520 fighters. The smaller wingspan and location of the cockpit aft of the wing eliminate any of the other possibilities suggested. The plan of the wings doesn't match any of the other French single-engine fighters with in-line engines.

The twin-engine aircraft are neither C.A.O.600 nor Dewoitine D.750. It is actually one of the Breguet 690 series attack aircraft. The most obvious identification feature is that the engine nacelles extend aft of the wing trailing edge.

In light of the fact that the Bearn was used as an aircraft transport rather than as an active carrier, the selection of two land-based aircraft makes sense.

Don Scheef

[av8rmongo]

Don,

Thanks again. After a brief Google search its clear that these aircraft would be too hard to convert into anything else. I'll just have to keep waiting.

Paul