Latécoère 298 | France's Best WW2 Seaplane? 

Check out Ikarus Art here → ikarusart.net/ and use the code REX to get 10% off your order. F.A.Q Section Q: Do you take aircraft requests? A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:) Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others? A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both. Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos? A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :) Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators? A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.

The way the torpedo is integrated with the fuselage is ingenious.

I cannot help looking at the 'land' version with the folding wings and thinking 'better than the Skua-Roc for the Royal Navy replacement of the Swordfish.

Thank you Rex for the attention you pay to the French aircraft memories. So many of them... Bloch, Morane-Saulnier, Dewoitine, Amiot, Potez, Breguet, Lioré et Olivier, Loire-Nieuport, Caudron, Couzinet 'Arc-en-Ciel' with Jean Mermoz....

Last time I was this early, the RAF was still considering the Martin Baker M.B. VI for service

I actualy love this design. Having a single engine torpedo bomber float plane is a great way to defend your coasts from enemy ships.

I've never heard of this one. Quite a good looking float plane.

Ohhh joy... I love this floatplane. I know that size isn't everything but look at those boots!

Excellent,simply excellent. As a french, Latécoère is probably one of the most tricky french word that you could ever try to pronounce.😁

And now i have a new " one of my favourite aircraft " And i had never heard of it before. Keep up the good work Rex.👍

Holy cow I forgot about a 1/72 scale kit I have this aircraft this video is inspiring me to build it!!

Any chance you could cover the Northrop N-3PB Nomad? It’s a lesser known(having only been operated by the Norwegians), but quite remarkable seaplane. It had a top speed of 414kph, and was armed with 4 fixed forward-firing .50 Cals, 2 flexible .30 Cals for the gunner, and some 2000lbs of ordnance including a torpedo.

Looks strangely modern, reminds me of the Piper airplanes. Great video as always!

I see a French Fairey Battle/Fulmar, is it just me? A little smaller but quite similar overall

Thank you, Rex for another very informative video. I appreciate your attention to French aircraft that are often overlooked by aviation historians. This video was very informative. I would love to see a video on the Heinkel-115. An aircraft that was also used by both the Axis and Allied forces during WWII.

Amazing how great aircraft slip through the net of publicity. Well done for waking us up to this attractive aircraft. Looks like a cross between a Supermarine S.6B and a Fairy Battle. Many a floatplane can be surprisingly spritely. As a fan of 406s and 520s i thoroughly enjoyed this. Well researched. Great channel. Thank you

Such a beautiful wing. Just look at that shape. Such a shame these did not survive.

a nice looking plane for sure...

Nice sleek, looking airplane. Reminds me of a Spitfire.

allways love hearing about lesser known aircraft of ww2

Floats…pontoons are strictly for barges and temporary bridges.

hmmm ,never knew about this aircraft either, and I thought I knew them all ! :D Good video.

I have a little book, floatplanes by one Greene. This aircraft is in it. Nice to see it here, Rex.

It seems like French designs are always on one side of the extreme, either incredibly beautiful or totally ugly. This one is beautiful.

Thanks for the video! I have always overlooked floatplanes until I started reading about the Solomons Campaign. Now I've taken an interest in them. Floatplanes means you could set up air bases rather quickly despite obvious disadvantages.

The development and acceptance of this bird seems like a fairy tale after just watching the clusterfiasco that was the Curtis Helldiver.

Funnily enough, you pronounce Levasseur perfectly. Latécoère is pronounced as 'La-tay-ceur-eh' and therefore Laté as 'La-tay'. Great video though. I've known of the 298 since I was around 10 years old, from a book with drawings by an Italian artist whose name escapes me at the moment. Good to see all the photos of it, it's a very good looking aircraft imho.

Great that you made a video about this, it was on my list. I always thought it was an interesting plane but couldn't find much information about it. Now you've clarified things, thank you!

It looks like a Yak with floats. I like it!

Brilliant. Great work. The illustrations and photos, [especially the photo of the prototype mockup with armament] were most illuminating.

What a fantastic video. I just learned about the 298 and thought it was a nifty little thing as I am becoming more and more appreciative of float planes. Great work as always!

Very cool. Never knew about this plane, but it's amazing something that big and heavy could get into the air at all given how under-powered it was. The dual commander thing might have been to give the pilot a relief backup for long patrol flights. And I agree that the stowage space for the torpedo/depth charges/bombs was very clever.

Thanks for this. I love learning about little known aircraft.

So well researched and informative. Great!

Another great video, Rex!

Well done, as always!

Superb vid, thank you, Rex!!!

Great vid Rex, thanks for making a vid on this really fascinating French aircraft.

Never even heard of this plane! Great find and episode! TY!

Great video, Rex.

G’Day Rex, You do fantastic docos mate 👍 Thank you 🙏

Interesting plane. As for requests, this made me think of the Wright Brothers Model G, a seaplane.

Greetings from France. Thanks for the video. Almost had a heart attack in the first seconds when you talked about French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) when these belonged to the French Fleet Air Arm (Aéronautique Navale) instead. But this is a minor comment for a very good video thanks. Those French naval aviators who sacrificed their lives flying the Laté 298, Vought 156 (Vindicator) and other aircraft are the unsung heros of the Battle of France. Unfortunately no Laté 298 has survived to this day even in static condition. Side note: Latécoère 298 no 33 belonging to Escadrille (Flight) HB-2 of the Aéronautique Navale might be the one which ended in British hands that you refered to. On the 4th of July 1940, it was evacuated by its French Fleet Air Arm crew to Malta to join the Allied forces. I will check if they are the two same aircraft.

Not a bad looking float plane.😎👍🏻

Give it a MAD and a homing torpedo and you would have a pretty effective sub hunter.

Thank you, very interesting!

Great video thank you

Nice one thanks.

The four-seat variant with "two commanders" was probably a deal with having a mission commander who isn't actually flying the plane, and an aircraft commander (i.e., the pilot). Navy MARPATS do this. The pilot is in charge of flying the plane and the flight officer (not a pilot) commands the mission and tells the pilot where to go. I did this, effectively, as a Navy SWO standing the Tactical Action Officer watch (TAO) on a ship. The Seahawk would take off, then I would switch my radar display to the aircraft's radar, and along with the FLIR imagary I was getting, would tell them where to go. I'm not a pilot, but I controlled helicopters and dictated where they went and what to look at. In that sense, I was the mission commander. My guess is perhaps they flew LATE 298s in formation and one aircraft with the fourth seat had the mission commander directing where all the planes go. Especially as used in the antisubmarine warfare role (ASW). Tactically, if a plan only carried one fish (i.e., torpedo), you would want several planes so as to have multiple fish.

Pretty bird. Looks the way a military floatplane should.

I double dare you to repeat that company name. Slowly, after me: La-TEH-co-air

Thanks for a great about an interesting forgotten aircraft

One of my most favorite airplanes to fly in war thunder. And for the br it’s at, it’s fairly robust against what it faces in both attack and defense. It’s also fairly difficult to shoot down with just machine guns meaning I have survived attacks that would have downed anything else, several times. Keep making wonderful videos!

Fascinating story!

Last time I was this early there was only one govt in Moscow.

Great video! I suggest that you cover Dornier Do-22 and its service by Yugoslavia, Finland and RAF

Great video as always! I had indeed no knowledge about this plane! I would just throw a piece of advice and suggest checking the prononciation of french names, other than that, magnificent work!

Thanks again Rex Hangar for another fine Aircraft video..... Shoe🇺🇸

Would you consider doing a video on the Schneider Cup? I've already subscribed in anticipation.

I flew with Ernie Gibson Lake Chelan to Stehekin summer of 1980.His Beaver float plane cost 25$ oneway.

I never know about this plane. Good looking for a French plane of this era

I just started the french aviation tree on warthunder... I am suprised at how many boxes the planes check. Quad MG's, maneuverable and good speed. I really shouldn't be telling people about them but I can't help but love these planes.

17:02 - looks plane had fabric covered car like doors. Surprised how streamlined and successful design was. Compared to other mid 30s French boxy airplanes.

Its a beautiful aircraft where form and function has merged. But : The best seaplane torpedo bomber in the French Navy ? A category that is up there with the best German unicycle unit.

Cheers

Beautiful plane.

Side note. The Hispano Suiza 12 Y and especially it's YRS version was a brilliant engine. Sure, it was not on the level of the Merlin, but pretty darn close. Reliable, easy maintenance, robust.

love this thing in war thunder

Another beautifull forgotten plane.

I wonder why the cowling was wider than the spinner? Gives it a RR Dart turboprop appearance. Perhaps the carburetor intakes were there, or the spinner was smaller having the prop blade flanges outside of the spinner etc for servicing (Yes I see the coolant radiators are under wing root mid chord). A different convention for cowling design at any rate with neither Dewoitine or Morane Saulnier having this feature on their fighters with same engine.

Nice looking plane. I didn’t hear a single “whilst” in the narration. You’re slipping, Rex. 😁

It personally looks like the p51's or spitfire's diabetic brother

This looks like a slightly bigger than necessary Schneider Trophy contestant. This just proves that 'if it looks right, it'll fly right'.

Reminds me of the Fairey Fulmar and the Japanese Judy dive-bomber. In my view, this is the most elegant float-plane of WW2. Why didn't Heller, Airfix or the old Frog company make a model kit of this beauty?

Sou fã dos hidroaviões o meu preferido é O grumman j2f duck🌟

i kept waiting throughout the vid for you to touch on the small prop infront of the big one, seen in some pictures. whats that for????

Can you please make a video on the mb 326 k please 🥺🥺🥺

Very elegant plane, Latécoère designed some beautiful planes in the interwar period, even if they were very often dramatically under powered. I had never heard of this one though. Just a slight, tiny remark if you don't mind: to pronounce correctly Laté with the accent, imagine you're ordering a Latte in a coffee shop ;-)

"Lah-tay-coh-air", if that's any help. Abbreviated form "Laté" => think "latte" as in coffee with milk.

As a seaplane pilot, I'd fly this.

So pretty. Noice one 😉

I've always had a soft spot for this aircraft.

Good on you for covering lesser-known French planes. Now does the existence of a "late" 298 imply that of an "early" one? I jest, of course, the name is best pronounced "lah-teh" to avoid any confusion.

0:36 not pronounced 'Late ' (a late plane doesn't sell well) but 'Laté' like an Italian latte (much more omph). And anyway a beautiful seaplane.

Bombing a torpedo must be really difficult....

I wonder if the French Carriers had been completed could before the fall of France or if France had lasted longer and they had been completed if a variant of the 299 would have been the main French Torpedo bomber for their carriers

It's actually quite a pretty plane like the Supermarine's chonkier older brother in appearance.

Hi

Quite a nice looking seaplane! Now I really want it in War Thunder. 😝Of course one for the French tech tree, but also one for Germany (either tech tree or premium) with German guns would be awesome too.

It has curtains doors?

Does Icarus Art cover the Copland Wakefield of 1939?

Later Coercer 298

More French aircraft, please.

I suspect that the two commanders is a rather mangled reference to two pilots.

Please do a vid on the Northrop N-3PB Nomad

It's a very good looking airplane. I've never flown anything with pontoons. It seems like it would throw off the feel of the aircraft badly. I'd like to hear from someone who has experience with such things.

The first plane you showed had the French Navy roundels.

So, essentially a short-fusalage floating Fairey Battle...

👍

Just by the look you can say this thing was quite nimble and fast for a floatplane