Amiot 143

The Amiot 143M was a late 1930s French medium bomber designed to meet 1928 specifications for a bomber capable of day/night bombing, long-range reconnaissance and bomber escort.

Design and development

Félix Amiot's 1925 design was selected in 1928 for production over rivals Bleriot 137, Breguet 410 and SPCA 30. The prototype designated Amiot 140 flew in 1931, but actual production of the aging design did not begin until 1935 and continued for lack of a replacement until March 1937.

Despite being of an ungainly two-tiered structure, slow and lacking maneuverability, and of obsolescent architecture, the Amiot 143M was a sturdy plane which was popular with its pilots. Notable were the very thick wings, with engines accessible in flight.

The Amiot 143M production model mounted a turret in the nose and dorsal turrets, both of which housed one or two 7.5 mm (.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns. In addition, a single 7.5 mm (.295 in) MAC 1934 was mounted in fore and aft positions in the ventral bombing gondola.

Operational history

The Amiot 143M entered service in July 1935. The design was already ten years old and was quite out of date. Nevertheless, 87 Amiot 143M were in the front line. 50 equipped four metropolitan groupes: GBs I/34 and II/34 in the north, GBs I/38 and II/38 in the East, and 17 equipped one African groupe as of 10 May 1940.

During the Phoney War, Amiot 143M groupes carried out reconnaissance and leaflet raids over Germany. Upon the start of the Battle of France, the Amiot 143M was used in night attacks on German lines of communications. The most significant action involving the Amiot 143M was a daring daylight raid on German bridgeheads near Sedan took place on 14 May 1940. A force of 13 planes from GBs I/34, II/34, and II/38 led by Commandant de Laubier encountered German Messerschmitt Bf 109 fighters en route. 12 bombers were destroyed.

By the time of the Armistice, the Amiot 143M had dropped a total of 474 tonnes (523 tons) of bombs. 53 Amiot 143Ms were in the Unoccupied Zone and 25 were in French North Africa. They were reorganized into GBs I/38 and II/38 and were used until July 1941 when they were replaced by LeO 451 bombers.

Some planes of the II/38 served as a transports for the French in Syria. This groupe later went over to the Allied side after their landings in Africa. The last Amiot 143M was retired from service in February 1944.

A few Amiot 143M are reported to have been commandeered by the Germans and used as transports. Only 11 planes were left in the Unoccupied Zone when it was occupied by the Germans in 1943, and only three were flightworthy.

Had the war gone on a little longer for France, it is likely that all of the Amiot 143M would have ended up in a training role, having been replaced by more modern bombers such as the Breguet 693. The obsolete plane was never intended to have such an important role come war time, but slow French production made its use necessary - often being pulled from training squadrons to shore up bomber groupes.

Variants

• Amiot 140 - prototype with Hispano-Suiza 12Nbr inline engines (2 built, followed by orders for 40 more produced as Amiot 143 instead)
• Amiot 141 - revised design (unbuilt)
• Amiot 142 - prototype with Hispano-Suiza 12Ybrs inlines (1 built)
• Amiot 143 - production version with Gnome-Rhône 14Kirs/Kjrs radial engines (138 built, including 40 ordered as Amiot 140 and 25 ordered as Amiot 144)
• Amiot 144 - version with reduced wing area, added flaps and retractable undercarriage and no front turret (1 built, orders for 25 produced as Amiot 143 instead)
• Amiot 145 - Amiot 144 with Hispano-Suiza 14A4 inlines (not built)
• Amiot 146 - Amiot 144 with Gnome-Rhône 18Lars radials (not built)
• Amiot 147 - Amiot 144 with Hispano-Suiza 12Ydrs/frs inlines (not built)
• Amiot 150 - Reconnaissance, torpedo bomber prototype, for use with the Aeronavale. Amiot 143 with 10% larger wing, interchangeable wheel or float landing gear, powered by two Gnome-Rhone radials (1 prototype built)

Operators

Template:Country data Croatia

• Air Force of the Independent State of Croatia operated one.

Template:FRA

• Armee de l'Air operated 138 aircraft.

Template:Country data Germany

• Luftwaffe operated few captured aircraft.

Template:POL

• Polish Air Forces on exile in France
  • Groupe de Bombardement Marche Polonais

Specifications (Amiot 143)

General characteristics

• Crew: Five (pilot, co-pilot, navigator, bombardier, gunner)
• Length: 18.3 m (59 ft 11 in)
• Wingspan: 24.5 m (80 ft 5¾ in)
• Height: 5.7 m (18 ft 7¾ in)
• Wing area: 100 m² (1,080 ft²)
• Empty weight: 6,100 kg (13,450 lb)
• Loaded weight: 9,700 kg (21,400 lb)
• Powerplant: 2× Gnome et Rhône 14Kirs/jrs 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engine, 650 kW (870 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: 310 km/h (193 mph)
• Range: 1,200 km (720 mi)
• Service ceiling: 7,900 m (25,920 ft)
• Rate of climb: 279 m/s (915 ft/s)
• Ferry Range: 2,000 km (1,240 mi)

Armament

• Guns: 4-6 × 7.5 mm (.295 in) MAC 1934 machine guns in nose and dorsal positions as well as in front and rear of gondola
• Bombs: 880-1,600 kg (1,936-3,520 lb)

See also

Comparable aircraft

• Bristol Bombay
• Junkers Ju 86
• Heinkel He 111B
• Martin B-10

Related lists

• List of aircraft of the Armée de l'Air, World War II
• List of bomber aircraft

References

• Breffort, Dominique; André Jouineau. French Aircraft from 1939 to 1942. 
• The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft. London: Aerospace Publishing. 
• Weal, Elke C.; John A. Weal & Richard F. Barker. Combat Aircraft of World War Two. 

This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the Wikipedia article "Amiot 143".