SNCASE SE.100
{{short description|French prototype of heavy fighter}}
| {{Infobox aircraft begin
|name =Sud-Est SE.100 |image =SE.100.brouillon.png |caption =Upper view }}{{Infobox aircraft type |type =Fighter |national origin= France |manufacturer = Lioré et Olivier |designer = Pierre Mercier and Jacques Lecarme |first flight = 29 March 1939 |introduced = Late 1940 (planned) |retired = |status = |primary user =French Air Force (planned) |more users = |produced = |number built = 1 |unit cost = |variants with their own articles = }} |
The SNCASE SE.100 was a French two-seat, twin-engined fighter that first flew in 1939. Mass production was planned to begin late in 1940 but the Fall of France prevented this.
Design and development
The origins of the SE.100 predate the creation of the SNCASE (Sud-Est) company in the nationalisations of 1937. It was designed by Pierre Mercier and Jacques Lecarme at Lioré et Olivier and was initially designated the LeO 50. Underpowered by two Gnome-Rhône 14M engines, the design was recast to use the more powerful Gnome-Rhône 14N-20 and -21 engines, the same used in the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451 bomber, and renamed the SE.100. The aircraft was of conventional all-metal construction, having a mid-wing layout. As with most French twin-engined aircraft of the era, the engines were handed, one airscrew rotating clockwise and the other anti-clockwise, to minimise torque. The aircraft had a twin tail. In production models it was planned to redesign the wing to use components from the LeO 451 wing to ease production. The fuselage was short in appearance, with a long nose and a very short tail, the cockpit being connected to the gunner's position aft by a windowed corridor. The undercarriage was very unconventional, a taildragger with single main wheel at the front and one rear wheel fitted under each vertical tail and retracting into them, rather than two main wheels under the wings or engine nacelles and a single tail wheel as per usual practice. The aircraft was fitted with four Hispano-Suiza HS.404 20 mm cannon in the nose and one in the gunner's post.
The first prototype of the SE.100 flew on 29 March 1939 at Argenteuil, and a number of necessary changes were identified during the tests. It was destroyed in a crash on 5 April 1940.{{cite journal |last1=Bombeau |first1=Alain |last2=Beauchamp |first2=Gerry |title=France's Flying Banana |journal=Airpower |date=November 1981 |volume=11 |issue=6 |pages=40–41}} The aircraft proved to be around 100 km/h faster than the Potez 631, the French Air Force's current twin-engined fighter, and production was authorised.
While the tests were proceeding, a second prototype was being built, incorporating the changes, the most obvious of which was the removal of the windowed corridor in the fuselage and its replacement by additional fuel tanks. The armament was increased to six cannon in the nose, two in the gunner's post and one additional cannon in the floor of the gunner's post. As the second prototype was being built, the Citroën company was preparing to mass-produce the aircraft at their Paris works, deliveries planned to begin late in 1940.
At least two paper variants were studied, the SE.101 powered by Pratt & Whitney R-1830 Twin Wasp engines, and the SE.102 powered by a different version of the Gnome-Rhône 14N. The SE.500 and SE.800 were to have been a 12-passenger transport and a four-engined transport, respectively, derived from the SE.100.
Specifications (SE.100)
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=L'Aviation française de 1939 à 1942,{{cite book |last1=BREFFORT |first1=Dominique |last2=JOUINEAU |first2=André |title=L'aviation française de 1939 à 1942 : chasse, bombardement, reconnaissance et observation. Tome 2, De Dewoitine à Potez |date=2004 |publisher=Histoire & collections |location=Paris |isbn=2915239487 |language=fr}} War Planes of the Second World War; Volume One; Fighters{{cite book |last1=Green |first1=William |title=War Planes of the Second World War; Volume One; Fighters |date=1960 |publisher=Macdonald |location=London |pages=70–71}}
|prime units?=met
|crew=2
|capacity=
|length m=11.8
|length ft=
|length in=
|length note=
|span m=15.7
|span ft=
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|height m=4.28
|height ft=
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|wing area sqm=33
|wing area sqft=
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|aspect ratio=7.47
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|empty weight lb=
|empty weight note=
|gross weight kg=7500
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|eng1 number=2
|eng1 name=Gnome-Rhône 14N-20/21
|eng1 type=14-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine
|eng1 kw=806
|eng1 hp=
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|max speed kmh=580
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|max speed note=at {{cvt|6500|m}}
|cruise speed kmh=499
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|range km=1300
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|wing loading kg/m2=227
|wing loading lb/sqft=
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|power/mass=0.21kW/kg (0.13hp/lb)
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|guns=
:Prototype
::*4 x 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon in nose
::*1 x 20 mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon in rear gunner's post
:Planned production version
::*6 x 20 mm cannon in the nose
::*2 x 20 mm cannon in a rear turret
::*2 x 20 mm cannon in the belly
}}
References
{{reflist}}
Bibliography
{{commons category|SNCASE SE.100}}
- Hartmann, Gérard. Les avions Lioré et Olivier. Boulogne-Billancourt, France: ETAI. 2002. {{ISBN|2-7268-8607-8}} (in French)
- {{cite journal |last1=Pelletier|first1=Alain J.|title=French 'Warthog': SE. 100, Cannon-armed 'Penetration' Fighter|journal=Air Enthusiast |date=January–February 1999 |issue=79 |pages=16–20 |issn=0143-5450}}
- {{cite book |last1=Ricco |first1=Philippe |title=SNCASE SE 100: chasseur lourd polyvalent |date=2005 |publisher=Avia éd |isbn=978-2915030167}}
- {{cite journal |last1=Stroud |first1=Nick |title=Rum Punch: The Unorthodox SNCASE SE.100 |journal=The Aviation Historian |date=2015 |issue=13 |pages=100–109 |issn=2051-1930}}
{{SNCASE aircraft}}
Category:1930s French fighter aircraft