The first test flights were carried out in March 1942 with a French pilot at the controls - Zacharie Heu, former test pilot of ANF Aux Mureaux.
Scott K Rice, e-mail, 28.12.2024 13:39
The French in the 1930s were dealing with continuous political and labor disruptions. That's really more history than political. They had a state-of-the-art aircraft and design capability but no focus! The British focused on two fighters and worked on them, not much else was allowed to interfere. The French also did not have the hard-headed, ruthless leadership of a General Foch. With better leaders France would have been in a much better place.
DiMn0, e-mail, 23.03.2023 05:27
bonjour, je voudrais connaître vos sources s'il vous plaît
According to what I have read the big problem with the French defense industry before the war was simple. There was no shortage of great designs, no shortage of great engineers. It was industrial problems caused by the unions which were controlled by the communist party, they were constantly on strike. If not for constant labor unrest France wouldn't have been so easy to defeat!
Olivier, e-mail, 03.08.2015 18:55
I would just say that if that plane had arrived at the beginning of the war in number , maybe it would have changed history but at that time nobody expected to tactically german Blitz Krieg ! PS sorry For my english !
Olivier, e-mail, 03.08.2015 18:44
I remember comments from WWII french "AS" Pierre-Henri Clostermann about the Campain of France defeat. He spoke about the french military general headquarters spirit where generals officers were looking like WWI in term of TACTIC and STRATEGY. Politians were too shy to understand that rearm was urgent... Thanks the Brits (Reginald Mitchell) for the Spit and es
Zak, e-mail, 24.03.2015 22:52
Wow this got political very fast... we aren't talking about Israel, USA or Middle East guys, we are talking about the Bloch MB.157
Mike, 06.01.2013 12:20
Glenn, I think many Europeans would say the same about the good old US of A so the feeling is probably mutual but what relevance all of that has here I dont know.
Ian, e-mail, 30.10.2012 17:19
Israel are only "In Europe" for a singing contest of dubious quality. It's actually in the Middle East, the area that a lot of North Americans would like to turn into a self illuminating glass car park.
Glenn, e-mail, 24.10.2012 05:07
The French were prevented from becoming "militarized by german sympathizers/colaberators. The most IMFAMOUS Vichy French advocate, was Pierre Laval, who was tried, condmned, and executed for collaborating with Nazi Germany, and for the participation of the extermination of jews with Germany. If it weren't for assholes like Laval, France could have put up a real fight against Germany. This, and the reccent Prime Minister Chirac was a collaborator and great friend of Saddam Heussein in the war to oudst Heusein in Operation Iraqi Freedom. This is reccorded in the book "The French Betrayal of America" This is yet another reason I don't trust France or anyone else in Europe CEPT ISRAEL!!
Civettone, e-mail, 29.08.2012 22:45
It all comes down to the engine. If the two-stage Gnome-Rhône 14R was really capable of 1268kW at 8000m, then for sure this was a remarkable high altitude fighter, and the 710 km/h estimation would not have been far off!
However, I have my doubts about the 1268 kW. It is an unusually high output, and higher than the take-off power, which is somewhat unusual. If the Germans had known about this engine, as is reported, then they would have tried to copy it and put it in a Fw 190A. It would have given them the high-altitude interceptor they always wanted.
Kris
Thomas Kerr, e-mail, 09.11.2010 20:20
Now the maximum speed here looks a bit impossible but recall record breaking ME109 prototypes. Let us add some armament (serious weight if you look up gun weights) and a combat load of fuel.
Still you get a fighter with a power/ profile almost as good as FW190 and a definite 'contendar'. Timing is all in an arms race!!
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