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many more, but the production aircraft that arrived from January 1940 proved seriously underpowered, and the type was withdrawn from French service within months.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.
Why It Mattered
The Caudron C.714 Cyclone was France's attempt to conjure a modern fighter quickly: a light fighter built of wood, so that it could be produced rapidly in large numbers without disturbing the factories already turning out other aircraft. Developed from Caudron-Renault's racing aircraft, it was light and fast, and it entered service despite concerns over its performance. The concern proved justified: flight testing showed the little fighter was underpowered, and its wooden structure left no room for a stronger engine. France ordered it out of active service, yet the C.714 still fought, in the hands of the Polish pilots of Groupe de Chasse I/145, who were credited with twelve confirmed victories in June 1940.
Design Notes
The C.714 was designed under Marcel Riffard, Caudron's technical director since 1932, whose department at Caudron-Renault had spent the 1930s building light wooden aeroplanes and racers. It stood at the end of a short line of prototypes: the all-wood C.710, first flown on 18 June 1936 and developed from the company's air racers, and the C.713 of December 1937, which introduced retractable landing gear. The C.714 prototype followed in April 1938, keeping the family's long nose and far-back cockpit. Its changes were a new wing airfoil, a strengthened fuselage, four 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the wings, and the Renault 12R-03 engine, whose carburettor could work in negative g. Wood kept the fighter light, but it also capped its growth, because no more powerful engine could be fitted.
Operational History
The French Air Force ordered twenty C.714s on 5 November 1938, with an option for 180 more, and production began at Renault's factory in the Paris suburbs in the summer of 1939. Deliveries began in January 1940, but testing of the first production aircraft showed the design to be seriously flawed: it was withdrawn from French active service in February, and in March the production order was cut to 90. Eighty aircraft were diverted to Finland for the Winter War, but only six arrived; Finnish testing found them too unreliable and dangerous for front-line use, and they never saw combat. The type's only combat came with the Polish Groupe de Chasse I/145, which received thirty-five Caudrons on 18 May 1940. After just twenty-three sorties its pilots judged it seriously underpowered and no match for German fighters, and on 25 May the French war minister, Guy La Chambre, ordered every C.714 withdrawn. Since the French authorities had no other aircraft to offer them, the Polish pilots ignored the order and fought on. Between 8 and 11 June they were credited with twelve confirmed and three unconfirmed victories — among them four Dornier Do 17 bombers, three Messerschmitt Bf 109s and five Messerschmitt Bf 110s — and lost eighteen of their own aircraft, nine in the air and nine on the ground. By the fall of France at the end of June, only fifty-three production machines had been delivered, although some accounts put the figure at ninety-eight.
Afterlife
The Finnish aircraft outlasted the type's brief combat career by nearly a decade: they stayed on the Finnish roster until they were retired and scrapped on 30 December 1949. One of them, CA-556, ended its days as an instructional airframe at a maintenance personnel school. Finland preserved one complete C.714 airframe and one additional fuselage. The fuselage was later passed to the Polish Aviation Museum, where it is on display. The design family's racing branch is also preserved: the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget holds the airframe of the C.714-R speed-record aircraft, which joined the museum in 1951. A replica of the C.714 has appeared at the La Ferté-Alais air show in France.