GL-832 HY | |
---|---|
Role | Shipboard reconnaissance floatplane |
Manufacturer | Gourdou-Leseurre |
First flight | 1931 |
Introduction | 1934 |
Retired | 1941 |
Primary user | French Navy |
Produced | 1934–1936 |
Number built | 22 |
The Gourdou-Leseurre GL-832 HY was a 1930s French light shipboard reconnaissance floatplane designed and built by Gourdou-Leseurre for the French Navy.
In 1930 the French Navy issued a requirement for a light coastal patrol seaplane mainly for use in the French colonies. Gourdou-Leseurre built and designed a prototype GL-831 HY which was a modification of the companies earlier GL-830 HY with a smaller Hispano-Suiza radial engine. The GL-831 HY first flew on 23 December 1931. In 1933 the French Navy ordered 22 aircraft designated GL-832 HY, this had a less powerful engine than the prototype. The GL-832 HY was a metal construction low-wing monoplane with fabric covered wings and twin floats. The aircraft had a large wing to take the stresses of a catapult launch, the wings also folded to allow stowage on board a ship. Unusually the braced-horizontal tailplane was attached to the underside of the rear fuselage. Two open cockpits in tandem were provided for the two crew, each cockpit having a windscreen. The first production aircraft flew on 17 December 1934 and the last on 12 February 1936.
The French Navy used the GL-832 HY on second-line cruisers like the Emile Bertin and Primauguet and on smaller colonial sloops. The smaller sloops did not have a catapult and the aircraft were lowered into the sea using a crane. The aircraft were still operational at the start of the Second World War and were not retired until 1941.
Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985), 1985, Orbis Publishing, Page 1994
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
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