Dewoitine D.520
The Dewoitine D.520 was a French single-seat fighter designed by Émile Dewoitine's team and built by SNCAM and SNCASE. First flown on 2 October 1938, it was the best fighter available to the French Air Force in 1940 and could hold its own against the Messerschmitt Bf 109E, but engine-cooling troubles delayed it and it reached units only in February 1940, in numbers too small to affect the Battle of France; production stood at 437 aircraft by the June 1940 armistice. The type's service then split along the lines of the war itself: 349 more were built for the Vichy French State and 139 for the Axis forces, Germany used its D.520s as trainers while Italy and Bulgaria flew theirs in combat, Vichy aircraft fought the Allies in Syria and North Africa, and aircraft recaptured from the Germans fought for France again at the Liberation. It ended its career as a trainer, the last example flying on 30 September 1953, and three survive in French museums.
Why It Mattered
The Dewoitine D.520 was the best fighter the French Air Force had in 1940, and, in J. Rickard's assessment, the only Allied aircraft engaged in France that could claim to be the Messerschmitt Bf 109E's equal. The Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace likewise considers it the best fighter the French fielded in the Second World War. French testers who flew it against a captured Bf 109E-3 judged it the slower aircraft of the two, though the more manoeuvrable. None of that could be turned to account in 1940: engine-cooling troubles dogged its development, the first unit was not fully equipped until 7 May of that year, and there were never enough of them to make a real difference to the Battle of France. Its significance lies as much in what followed: production restarted after the armistice, and the same aircraft ended up serving both sides of the war.
Design Notes
The D.520 was drawn up to a 1936 French Air Force requirement for a fast, modern fighter whose armament centred on a 20 mm cannon. Émile Dewoitine's team produced the design in January 1937, but with no official order the work went forward as a private venture until the Air Ministry contracted for two prototypes on 3 April 1938. The structure was all-metal except for fabric-covered ailerons and tail surfaces, and the undercarriage retracted inward on a broad track. Production aircraft were powered by a Hispano-Suiza 12Y45 giving 920 hp, and carried one 20 mm HS 404 cannon in the engine hub and four 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine guns in the wings. The first prototype flew on 2 October 1938 but fell well short of its intended speed and overheated; a series of modifications followed, and the second prototype reached 327 mph in March 1939. Cooling and other teething problems nevertheless persisted, and it took until April 1940 for the last of them to be ironed out.
Operational History
Groupe de Chasse I/3 was the first unit to receive the D.520, taking its first aircraft in January 1940, though it was not fully equipped until 7 May. When the German offensive opened on 10 May 1940, GC I/3 was still the only unit flying the type; four more groupes converted during the campaign, and five groupes de chasse were equipped in all. In the Battle of France the five D.520 units were credited with 108 confirmed victories and 39 probables, a record the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace sums up as a favourable score of two victories for each aircraft lost — though there were never enough D.520s to affect the outcome. By the armistice of 25 June 1940, 437 D.520s had been produced, and most of those still flying escaped to North Africa. Production then continued under the Vichy regime: 349 further aircraft were built for the French State and 139 for the Axis forces. Germany used its D.520s to train fighter pilots, while Italy and Bulgaria flew theirs in combat. Vichy D.520s fought the Allies in Syria in 1941, where they were credited with 30 victories against 32 of their own number lost, and again over North Africa in 1942; after the Allied victory there, the French D.520s ended their days as trainers. In France itself, D.520s recaptured from the Germans took part in the Liberation with the FFI fighter group that was absorbed into the re-formed Armée de l'Air on 1 December 1944.
Afterlife
The D.520's working life ended in training: after the war, the examples that remained in France were used as trainers. At least thirteen were converted into two-seat D.520 DCs for dual instruction. The last D.520 of the Armée de l'Air made its final flight on 30 September 1953. Three aircraft survive, all in France: the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget displays n°862, which had flown with the Groupe de Chasse FFI Doret in 1944 and is painted as n°277, the personal aircraft of Adjudant Pierre Le Gloan of GC III/6, who was credited with seven victories against the Italians and seven more against the British in a D.520. The other survivors are n°603, on display with the Conservatoire de l'air et de l'espace d'Aquitaine at Bordeaux–Mérignac, and n°650, under restoration at the Musée national de la Marine in Rochefort.