Levasseur PL.4

Carrier-based Reconnaissance Biplane Aircraft [ 1926 ]

The French Navy took on a stock of forty Levasseur PL.4 biplanes for the maritime reconnaissance role.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 11/03/2016 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

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The Levasseur concern, established by Frenchman Pierre Lavasseur, managed several aircraft products that were adopted by the French Navy throughout the early 1900s and this included the Levasseur PL.4, a maritime reconnaissance platform based on the earlier PL.2, itself a naval torpedo-bomber design. The PL.4 was given a traditional biplane-winged arrangement which featured single bays and apparel struts. The undercarriage was of a conventional "tail-dragger" design with the main legs wheeled and the tail supported by a simple skid. The crew of three was seated inline across three separate open-air cockpits. A first-flight was had in 1926 and the type went on to be adopted by the French Navy to serve on FS Bearn, a conventionally-powered aircraft carrier commissioned in 1927.

The PL.4 was given certain qualities about it to better perform its overwater role: should the crew have to bail the aircraft, the fuselage was given a boat-like hull design and floats were installed under the lower wing assembly. Additionally the undercarriage could be jettisoned prior to crash landing - these features intended to give the crew a fighting chance at surviving a crash.

About forty of the type were produced with the French Navy becoming its sole global operator. The sole prototype used to prove the design sound was the PL.4 A3 R3b.

As completed the aircraft exhibited a length of 9.7 meters, a wingspan of 14.6 meters and a height of 3.8 meters. Empty weight was 1,700 kg against a Maximum Take-Off Weight (MTOW) of 5,800 kg. Power was from a Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb series engine developing a healthy 450 horsepower output and driving a two-bladed propeller unit at the nose. Performance specs included a maximum speed of 111 miles per hour, a range out to 560 miles and a service ceiling reaching 16,400 feet.©MilitaryFactory.com

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Specifications

Service Year

1926

Origin

France

Crew

3

Production

41
UNITS

Levasseur - France

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

France

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Maritime / Navy
Land-based or shipborne capability for operating over-water in various maritime-related roles while supported by allied naval surface elements.

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

Length

31.7 ft
(9.67 m)

Width/Span

47.9 ft
(14.60 m)

Height

12.6 ft
(3.85 m)

Empty Wgt

3,748 lb
(1,700 kg)

MTOW

5,842 lb
(2,650 kg)

Wgt Diff

+2,094 lb
(+950 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Levasseur PL.4 production variant)

Installed: 1 x Lorraine-Dietrich 12Eb engine developing 450 horsepower.

Max Speed

111 mph
(178 kph | 96 kts)

Ceiling

16,404 ft
(5,000 m | 3 mi)

Range

559 mi
(900 km | 1,667 nm)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Levasseur PL.4 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

PL.4 - Base Series Designation

PL.4 A3 R3b - Prototype designation; single example.

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