Amiot 143

History of Amiot 143

The French Air Force's Amiot 143 represented a further development of the Amiot piston-engine bomber family, replacing the 1931 Amiot 140. First flown in 1935, the Amiot 143 system is a humble building whose era is over the war years.

With newfound technological advancements and the changing face of warfare, the Amiot series could do little to stop the German invasion of the Netherlands and France itself.

The Amiot 143 was a twin-engine bomber with a crew of 4 to 6 people. The design is quite unconventional. The system is a mix of World War I and World War II technology, and the boxy fuselage houses a nacelle with windows at the bottom.

The engines were mounted high on the monoplane's wings, and the landing gear structure was wrapped and held stationary.

Armament is strictly defensive in the bomber role, equivalent to a 4 x 7.5 mm (.303 caliber) machine gun array throughout the aircraft. One of the machine guns was mounted on the nose turret and the other was mounted on the back turret. Two other machine guns were placed in the front and rear ventral nacelles. The machine guns were of the MAC 1934 type, which was a very weak defense compared to the fighters and bombers used by the Axis powers.

Internal and external bomb loads are possible, totaling 3,527 pounds of ammunition.

As expected, the outdated Amiot 134 did not perform well in the wave of German advance. The losses were dire, so great for the four French squadrons using outdated systems that the aircraft were relegated to limited night-flying bombing operations.

With the fall of France, the Amiot 143 series now fell into the hands of the Axis powers and later served in groups of the French Vichy Air Force.

Specification

Basic

Production

Roles

Dimensions

Weight

Performance

Performance

Armor

Changes