The Development of French Interwar Bombers Pt 2 - From Mediocrity To Insanity

Today we continue to explore the development of French bombing aircraft in the interwar period.

Recommended reading:

Published Journal Articles

Useful Websites

0:00 Intro
1:43 Path to an independent Air Force
13:47 The BCR Concept Renewed
22:25 The BCR Concept Abandoned
31:20 Amiot 144
32:29 Farman F.420
34:47 Bloch MB.130
38:26 Breguet 460
42:05 Potez 540
47:56 France Struggles To Make New Bombers
58:09 Nationalising The French Aircraft Industry
01:11:07 The Rush To Re-Arm
01:13:43 Amiot 354
01:17:56 Bloch MB.131
01:19:51 Bloch MB.170
1:22:20 Liore et Olivier LeO 451
1:27:54 Chaos and Defeat

[RexsHangar]

F.A.Q Section - Ask your questions here :)

Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)

Q: How do you decide what aircraft gets covered next?
A: Supporters over on Patreon now get to vote on upcoming topics such as overviews, special videos, and deep dives.

Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.

[craniusdominus]

The French really loved the design principle of "form follows function"
Unfortunately for them, they forgot that you first need to pick a function.

[life_of_riley]

I absolutely love the French's staunch adherence to this idea of a "forward parapet" on EVERYTHING. Its like they viewed aerial combat as some quasi-medival contest between rival castles.

[jlvfr]

For me, the great irony of the failure of the multipurpose aircraft is that, _today_, pretty much all modern combat aircraft are multipurpose...

[drstevenrey]

Deepest compliments on the pronunciation of 'Bloch'. He was from the Alsace region and it did sound a bit German, hence he changed it after the war to... Dassault.

[rem]

I now officially consider these two videos as the sequels we didn't know we needed to Drachinifel's video on French Pre-Dreadnoughts. It's always fun to have a good laught while learning on interesting topics and for this, thank you Rex! We want more!

[danpatterson]

The idea of designing something to fill multiple roles sounds great when actually making the thing work is someone else's job.

[billtisch]

More Shakespeare! "The Mosquito. Though she be but little, she is fierce!" "Alas, poor Maginot. I knew him well."

[drstevenrey]

Rex, You are mad. What a massive comprehensive unbelievably fantastic piece of history. This has just become my most favorite of all time. Thank you and good work.

[fredericklee]

Note the cut-down vertical stabilizer and rudder assembly of the LeO 450. This was due to the arc of fire mandated by the rear-firing 20mm canon.

[wbertie]

Rex, you said something very odd "to avoid this video getting too long". No such thing except with respect to your vocal health. And thank you for not employing an uncanny valley AI for the narration.

[jimsvideos]

A small return on the time spent on the research for this series.

[emilyroy]

The Potez 540 was way ahead of its time! How many other interwar bombers featured giant USB charging ports?? 🧐

[Apocalyptico]

When "In theory" is used so many times, it's never a good sign. 🤣

[The_Modeling_Underdog]

Excellent video, Rex. You hit the nail on every single problem the French had at the time.

The organizational part of the run up to war kept many outdated features still being prevalent on more modern designs, such as the 300-round drums for the MAC-1934 on fighters, no insulation from cold (or heat) for many of the aircraft systems, unreliable oxygen, radio and navigation sets and poor engine power output. Many aircraft lacked gunsights, propellers, radios and could not be shipped to the unit. Or were shipped in an incomplete state and then finished at unit level IF they had the spares.

There was an scathing article regarding the overall picture in one of the old Aerojournal magazines, some twenty years ago. The authors didn't hold back, mate. I'll tell you that.

Cheers.

[RyllenKriel]

I love those early French BCR bomber designs, especially the ones with the large glass aquariums in the bottom. The French were so thoughtful to take their pet goldfish to war with them to make certain they were looked after and well fed.

[annymusguy]

The looks of those bombers were probably considered just as potent at destroying the morale of the enemy as was the payload they were carrying.

[tommiatkins]

If you put a french bomber of the era on a yacht, and took off the wings, it would look like a marine nationale Pre dreadnought

[wbertie]

The RAF and USAAC both had their fights between fighter and bomber policy and some poorly-conceived multi-place and multi-role aircraft. Fast forward a few years and the Luftwaffe was pressing even what was ostensibly a heavy bomber, the Do. 217 into service as a nightfighter. At least the UK gave up trying to turn the Wellington into one.

[rogeremmerson]

An absolutely terrific, gripping and witty video with clear exposition of a fascinating period of aviation history.. I sense you finding intellectual space in the longer format. As a writer and researcher myself (though not video-maker nor connected to aircraft) I appreciate exactly what has gone into the production before you even begin to assemble the images and record the text. Your efforts are hugely appreciated. Keep 'em coming.