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Why did the Dewoitine D.520 not arrive in Finland?


Brent

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Howdy,

 

The Germans were pretty good at giving the Finlanders hardware. They also handed the D.520 to other co-belligerents. How is it the Dewoitine D.520 was not among the aircraft supplied to Finland? Any ideas?

 

ß!

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Hi,

Interesting question, I've never thought of that. One reason could be that Finns had tested the Caudron C.714 and found that unsuitable for nordic environment. Then if given the option of a bunch P-36 planes or D.520s they might have opted for P-36, part of which were coming from Norway.

 

That's just my guess, if someone has actual info that would be appreciated.

 

Br, Jani

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Hi,

Interesting question, I've never thought of that. One reason could be that Finns had tested the Caudron C.714 and found that unsuitable for nordic environment. Then if given the option of a bunch P-36 planes or D.520s they might have opted for P-36, part of which were coming from Norway.

 

That's just my guess, if someone has actual info that would be appreciated.

 

Br, Jani

 

The Finns handled many MS406 they bought from France at the begining of the war. They even modernised and repowered them later with engines from captured LaGG-3 laterin the war.

I think they also bought the Caudrons from France in the early war or before the war, so they already had them before the german captured the french facilities.

So i think they prefered geting aircraft they were used to, than new ones.

Edited by Zero77
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Agreed. The famous Morko Morane.

 

As I recall the C.714 was under powered, had weak armaments and the landing gear was unsuitable for the rough forward airfields.

 

Still, it seems like the D.520 would have done well there.

 

ß!

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Agreed. The famous Morko Morane.

 

As I recall the C.714 was under powered, had weak armaments and the landing gear was unsuitable for the rough forward airfields.

 

Still, it seems like the D.520 would have done well there.

 

ß!

 

How could I forget the Moranes? :mental: They performed well, especially the Mörkö Morane, which was the second best fighter in Finnish arsenal, second only to the Bf-109.

 

Yes, you are right about the C.714. It was basically designed as a sports or racing plane and not designed to withstand the rigors of dogfighting. It wasn't suitable as an interceptor, having very poor climb rate. Even the Fokker D.XXI could outclimb the C.714. Out of the six received planes two were damaged during initial flights.AFAIK two of those planes still survive today, one in France, in the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace and one in Krakow.

 

D.520 would have done well. I think if they had been offered, the planes would have been taken gladly. After all, the Finns didn't have that many fighters.

 

Br, Jani

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The Germans allowed the Vichy French to continue to fly and produce the D.520, under condition that they were not sold to anyone else and only flew with Vichy units stationed outside of mainland France (some had already gone to Italy). When the Germans invaded the Vichy 'Free Zone' in November 1942, they acquired around 300 of the type and passed somewhere between 90-120 onto the Bulgarians, the rest going to Italy and various Luftwaffe training units. I would guess that there are two reasons why the Fins didn't receive it - the southern sector of the Eastern Front was considered to be a more pressing concern for the Germans, hence the need to bulk up the Bulgarian air Force to help protect the oilfields, and there was already a plan in place to provide Finland with the Bf-109 from early 1943.

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Few knows that German hire French civil and military pilots flaying planes to Bulgaria guarded by German fighters, but two of them were enough experience knowing the trace well and they take first possibilities to dive in the clouds escaping to neutral Switzerland.

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