Successful twin engine fighters: P-38 Lightning De Havilland Mosquito Bristol Beaufighter Now, about the Potez 630 series of aircraft, the Potez 631 was a dedicated heavy fighter/night fighter variant. Armed with two 20mm cannons and a single 7.5mm machine gun operated by the rear gunner/observer. The Potez 633 was a dedicated ground attack/light bomber variant. No 20mm cannons. Modest bomb load. Operated by the French, Roumanians, and Greeks. Potez 63-11 was the dedicated reconnaissance variant with an extensively glazed nose section. During the German invasion a number of 63-11s were converted to ground strafing aircraft by the addition of as many as seven 7.5mm machine guns firing forward. The French were guilty of the same misconceptions too common in the 1930s when it came to combat aircraft designs; trying to get too much out of not enough as you so rightly pointed out. But then again the 1930s witnessed a rapid evolution in aircraft designs that saw aircraft designs rapidly outpaced in a short period of time as engine power and armament increased from a pair or handful of light machine guns, to heavy machine guns, batteries of six or eight light machine guns, and automatic cannons. Self-sealing fuel tanks and armor protection for the pilots and aircrew were also woefully lacking in pre-war designs, making aircraft designed in the 1930s painfully vulnerable to attacks by faster, more heavily armed opponents. These shortcomings were anything but unique to the French. One last observation; the model aircraft you display is the Potez 63-11, the dedicated reconnaissance variant with its distinctive glazed nose section that housed the observer. Like most 1930s-vintage recon aircraft designs, the Potez 63-11 was terrifyingly vulnerable to fighter attacks, as the recon aircraft like the Potez 63-11 would be flying lower and slower than the aircraft hunting them. While some of these designs were quite maneuverable such as the Henschel Hs. 126 and the Dutch Fokker C-series, the fact remains is that as you so rightly stated, "Speed is life." The faster plane can easily dictate the outcome with "Boom and Zoom" tactics. So during the early stages of the war, such aircraft were unsurprisingly butchered by the Luftwaffe Bf-109 pilots in particular at an alarming rate. Thank you so much for covering this neglected subject!😎👍
The Luftwaffe lost over a thousand aircraft too between May and July,1940.Replacing the losses was one reason for the delay in attacking Britain until August.
Heavy fighter concept...jack of all trades masterr of none... so true. I fear the US will have to learn that lesson all over again with the F-35 jsf...
