Potez 15

__NOTOC__ Infobox Aircraft
name=Potez 15


caption=
type=Reconnaissance and bomber
manufacturer=Potez
designer=
first flight=October 1921
introduced=1923
retired=
status=
primary user=French Air Force
more users=Polish Air Force
produced=1923-1926
number built=545
unit cost=
developed from=
variants with their own articles=

The Potez 15 (also written Potez XV) was a French single-engine, two-seat observation biplane designed as a private venture by Louis Coroller and built by Potez and under licence in Poland.

Design and development

The plane was designed in the beginning of 1920s by Henry Coroller in Potez works. It was a development of a fighter SEA IV built by "Société d'Etudes Aéronautiques", a former firm of Henry Potez and Coroller. A prototype was flown in October 1921 and shown at Paris Air Show that year. It was conventional biplane with a fixed tailskid landing gear and a nose mounted 370hp (276kW) Lorraine 12D engine. The engine was later replaced by a 300hp (224kW) Renault 12Fe.

After a successful evaluation the aircraft was ordered by the Aéronautique Militiare as a reconnaissance aircraft. The first planes were manufactured and delivered in late 1923.

Series-built planes were powered with Lorraine-Dietrich 12Db inline engine. 410 were built in France. The plane was built in two main military variants: Potez 15 A2 reconnaissance plane and Potez 15 B2 bomber-reconnaissance plane. A single prototype of a floatplane variant Potez XV HO2 was built. There was also an export variant Potez XVII of 1923, built for Bulgaria only, with the same LD 12Db engine.

Already in 1923 Poland bought a licence for Potez 15 and started to manufacture them in Podlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS, 35 built in 1925) and Plage i Laśkiewicz aircraft works (100 built in 1925-1926).

A development of Potez 15 was Potez 27 (Potez XXVII),

Operational history

Primary user of Potez 15s was the French Air Force, from late 1923. Main user became the Polish Air Force with 110 aircraft bought and 135 manufactured in Poland.

In the Polish Air Force they were used from late 1924. Their withdrawal from combat units started in 1927, then they were used for training until mid-1930s.

120 aircraft were sold to Romania, 12 to Spain, 8 to Denmark. Six Potez XVIIs were sold to Bulgaria [http://aeroflt.users.netlink.co.uk/waf/bulgaria/bulg-af-all-time.htm] . 25 Potez XV A2 were used in Yugoslavia [ [http://www.aeroflight.co.uk/waf/yugo/jkrv/yugo-af1-all-time.htm Yugoslav Air Force Aircraft Types ] ] . These shared the engine, fuselage, undercarriage and tailfin of the Potez 15, combining them with the wings and stabilizers from a newer design, the Potez 25.

Description

Wooden construction biplane, with a fixed landing gear. A fuselage was framed, metal covered in front engine section, plywood covered in mid section and canvas covered in a tail section. Rectangular two-spar wings, plywood (leading edge) and canvas covered, of equal span. Crew of two, sitting in tandem in open cockpits: pilot in front, observer in the rear. Conventional fixed landing gear, with a common straight axle and a rear skid. Engine in front, two barrel-type water Lamblin radiators below the fuselage, between the landing gear. Two-blade wooden propeller. Fuel tanks in the fuselage. The pilot had one fixed 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun with an interrupter gear, the observer had twin 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns on a ring mounting.

Variants

;Potez XV:Production variant.;Potez XVII:Modified variant for Bulgaria.

Operators

;BUL;DEN;FRA;POL;ROM;ESP

pecifications

aircraft specifications

plane or copter?=plane
jet or prop?=prop

ref=Andrzej Glass: "Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939", WKiŁ, Warsaw 1977

crew=2
capacity=
length main=8.7 m
length alt=
span main=12.68 m
span alt=
height main=3.2 m
height alt=
area main= 46 m²
area alt= ft²
airfoil=
empty weight main=1487 kg
empty weight alt=
loaded weight main= 1950 kg
loaded weight alt=
useful load main= 463 kg
useful load alt=
max takeoff weight main=
max takeoff weight alt=
more general=

engine (prop)=Lorraine-Dietrich 12 Db
type of prop=water-cooled V12 inline engine
number of props=1
power main=
power alt=415 hp
power original=

max speed main=202 km/h
max speed alt=
cruise speed main=
cruise speed alt=
stall speed main=
stall speed alt=
never exceed speed main=
never exceed speed alt=
range main= 510 km
range alt= nm, mi
ceiling main=4,200 m
ceiling alt=
climb rate main= 3.9 m/s
climb rate alt=
loading main= kg/m²
loading alt= lb/ft²
power/mass main=W/kg
power/mass alt=hp/lb
more performance=
armament=
*1 x 7.7 mm Vickers machine gun, fixed in front
*2 x 7.7 mm Lewis machine guns, on a ring mounting
*125 kg bombs

ources

* [http://translate.google.com/translate?hl=en&sl=ru&u=http://www.airwar.ru/enc/bww2/pzl46.html&sa=X&oi=translate&resnum=8&ct=result&prev=/search%3Fq%3DPZL.23%2BKaras%26start%3D80%26hl%3Den%26ie%3DUTF-8%26sa%3DN Potez 15 at Ugolok Neba] (translated page)
* [http://www.aviafrance.com/834.htm Potez 15 at Aviafrance]

ee also

aircontent
related=
*SEA IV - Potez 25 - Potez 27
similar aircraft=

sequence=

lists=
* List of military aircraft of France

see also=