Caudron-Renault
2 types · 0 airframes
Pre-1950 Narrative
Narrative coming soon.
Aircraft Types
Caudron C.460
The Caudron C.460 Rafale was a French single-seat racing monoplane built by Caudron-Renault to Marcel Riffard's design for the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe. Three were built for 1934: wooden airframes around a supercharged Renault six-cylinder engine, set apart from the fixed-gear C.450 by a retractable undercarriage. On Christmas Day 1934 Raymond Delmotte set a world speed record of 505.85 km/h in a C.460, described in French accounts as the first time a landplane passed 500 km/h. A C.460 won the Coupe Deutsch in 1935, and in 1936 Michel Détroyat won the Greve and Thompson trophies at the US National Air Races. Whether any original survives is unconfirmed; a full-scale replica built in 2009 flies today in Renault's hands.
Caudron C.714 Cyclone
The Caudron C.714 Cyclone was a French light fighter of wooden construction, designed under Marcel Riffard at Caudron-Renault and developed from the company's racing aircraft. Its prototype flew in April 1938 and the French Air Force ordered twenty, with options for many more, but the production aircraft that arrived from January 1940 proved seriously underpowered, and the type was withdrawn from French service within months. Eighty were earmarked for Finland's Winter War, of which only six arrived and none fought. The C.714's only combat was with the Polish Groupe de Chasse I/145 in June 1940, whose pilots were credited with twelve confirmed victories before France fell. About ninety were built in all, and one complete airframe was preserved in Finland.