Potez 15
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| Potez 15 | |
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| Type | Reconnaissance and bomber |
| Manufacturer | Potez |
| Maiden flight | October 1921 |
| Introduced | 1923 |
| Primary users | French Air Force Polish Air Force |
| Produced | 1923-1926 |
| Number built | 545 |
Potez 15 (also written Potez XV) was a French single-engine biplane reconnaissance bomber, designed in early 1920s.
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[edit] Design and development
The plane was designed in the beginning of 1920s by Henry Coroller in Potez works. It was a development of a fighter SEA IV built by Société d'Etudes Aéronautiques, a former firm of Henry Potez and Coroller. A prototype was flown in October 1921 and shown at Paris Air Show that year. The prototype was powered with 370 hp (276 kW) Lorraine-Dietrich 12D inline engine, next replaced with 300 hp (224 kW) Renault 12Fe engine. The plane was successful and was ordered by the French Air Force as a reconnaissance aircraft. The first planes were manufactured in late 1923.
Series-built planes were powered with Lorraine-Dietrich 12Db inline engine. 410 were built in France. The plane was built in two main military variants: Potez 15 A2 reconnaissance plane and Potez 15 B2 bomber-reconnaissance plane. A single prototype of a floatplane variant Potez XV HO2 was built. There was also an export variant Potez XVII of 1923, built for Bulgaria only, with the same LD 12Db engine.
Already in 1923 Poland bought a licence for Potez 15 and started to manufacture them in Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS, 35 built in 1925) and Plage i Laśkiewicz aircraft works (100 built in 1925-1926).
A development of Potez 15 was Potez 27 (Potez XXVII), sharing its engine, fuselage, undercarriage and tailfin, and taking wings and stabilizers from a newer design Potez 25.
[edit] Operational service
Primary user of Potez 15s was the French Air Force, from late 1923. Main user became the Polish Air Force with 110 aircraft bought and 135 manufactured in Poland.
In the Polish Air Force they were used from late 1924. Their withdrawal from combat units started in 1927, then they were used for training until mid-1930s.
120 aircraft were sold to Romania, 12 to Spain, 8 to Denmark. Six Potez XVIIs were sold to Bulgaria[1]. 25 Potez XV A2 were used in Yugoslavia[2].
[edit] Description
Wooden construction biplane, with a fixed landing gear. A fuselage was framed, metal covered in front engine section, plywood covered in mid section and canvas covered in a tail section. Rectangular two-spar wings, plywood (leading edge) and canvas covered, of equal span. Crew of two, sitting in tandem in open cockpits: pilot in front, observer in the rear. Conventional fixed landing gear, with a common straight axle and a rear skid. Engine in front, two barrel-type water Lamblin radiators below the fuselage, between the landing gear. Two-blade wooden propeller. Fuel tanks in the fuselage. The pilot had one fixed 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun with an interrupter gear, the observer had twin 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns on a ring mounting.
[edit] Operators
[edit] Specifications
Data from Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939", WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977
General characteristics
- Crew: 2
- Length: 8.7 m ()
- Wingspan: 12.68 m ()
- Height: 3.2 m ()
- Wing area: 46 m² (ft²)
- Empty weight: 1487 kg ()
- Loaded weight: 1950 kg ()
- Useful load: 463 kg ()
- Powerplant: 1× Lorraine-Dietrich 12 Db water-cooled V12 inline engine, (415 hp)
Performance
- Maximum speed: 202 km/h
- Range: 510 km (nm, mi)
- Service ceiling 4,200 m ()
- Rate of climb: 3.9 m/s ()
- Wing loading: kg/m² (lb/ft²)
- Power/mass: W/kg (hp/lb)
Armament
- 1 x 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun, fixed in front
- 2 x 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns, on a ring mounting
- 125 kg bombs
[edit] Sources
- Potez 15 at Ugolok Neba (translated page)
- Potez 15 at Aviafrance
- ^ http://aeroflt.users.netlink.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-af-all-time.htm
- ^ Yugoslav Air Force Aircraft Types
[edit] See also
Related development
Related lists
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