Girish Mahajan (Editor)

Latécoère 32

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Wingspan
  
28 m

Manufacturer
  
Groupe Latécoère

Length
  
16 m

The Latécoère 32 was a flying boat built in France in 1928 for use on Aéropostale's mail routes to North Africa.

Contents

Development

A strengthened and enlarged version of the Latécoère 23, it was a parasol-wing monoplane with sponsons for stability in the water and two engines mounted in tandem push-pull configuration on the wing.

Operational history

Put into service on the Marseilles-Algiers and Toulouse-Algiers routes, the aircraft proved most unreliable and were involved in a number of accidents. At the end of 1931, the five surviving examples were re-engined with Hispano Suiza 12Hbr engines and re-designated Latécoère 32-3, which persisted in service a little longer.

Eight Latécoère 32's were built with the following construction numbers (numéros d'usine) and registrations:-

  • no77 - F-AILN
  • no78 - F-AILU
  • no79 - F-AILT
  • no80 - F-AISN
  • no81 - F-AISO
  • no82 - F-AIRU
  • no84 - F-AITX
  • no85 - F-AJBK

    • Variants

  • Latécoère 32 - original version with Farman 12We engines.
  • Latécoère 32-3 - remotorised version with Hispano-Suiza 12Hbr engines.

    • Operators

  • Air France
  • Aéropostale

    • Specifications (Latécoère 32-3)

    Data from

    General characteristics

  • Crew: One pilot
  • Capacity: Mail, or up to 4 passengers
  • Length: 16.34 m (53 ft 7 in)
  • Wingspan: 28.00 m (91 ft 10 in)
  • Height: 6.145 m (20 ft 2 in)
  • Wing area: 123.0 m2 (1,324 ft2)
  • Empty weight: 5,400 kg (11,904 lb)
  • Gross weight: 7,500 kg (16,535 lb)
  • Powerplant: 2 × Hispano-Suiza 12Hbr, 373 kW (500 hp) each

    • Performance

  • Maximum speed: @ sea level, 202.5 km/h (126 mph)
  • Cruising speed: 172 km/h (107 mph)
  • Range: 1,500 km (930 miles)
  • Service ceiling: attained in 44 mins, 4,100 m (13,450 ft)
  • Rate of climb: @ sea level, 2.87 m/s (565 ft/min)

    • References

    Latécoère 32 Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA