Description
192 pages, more than 160 photos, 50 colour views, numerous scale plan plates.
“For several years, the persistent myth, of Vichy origin, that the skies of 1940 were empty of French aircraft has been gradually dismantled. Naval Aviation nevertheless remained somewhat in the shadows, even though the “hook-shaped roundels” had taken a significant part in the fighting of May-June 1940, particularly in the missions over Berlaimon and Origny (May 19-20) where the losses in men and aircraft were around half.”
The Loire-Nieuport LN-40 and its derivatives were the first French aircraft designed for dive-bombing, a combat technique that held little interest for the French Air Force in the 1930s. The Navy had led the way as early as 1918; it was the Navy that developed this aircraft, which bore a resemblance to the Stuka, but was designed for naval warfare and intended for the aircraft carrier Béarn.
From the initial designs to the abandonment of the LN-42, its entire career is recounted here, with the May-June 1940 operations, in which the Loire-Nieuport aircraft actively participated, as the centerpiece. Illustrations play a significant role in this work: photographs (including numerous wrecks), artistic drawings, profiles, maps, 1/72 scale three-view drawings, facsimiles of technical drawings and administrative documents… A comprehensive monograph on an atypical aircraft that made the most of its short career, presented in a beautifully designed book.
