World War II Database

Contributor: C. Peter Chen

ww2dbaseThe 350 series of bombers were designed as a response to a 1934 requirement. 130 of them were ordered by the French Army in 1938, but production delays led to the fact that none were delivered by the time the European War began in Sep 1939. The demands for war increased the order size to a total of 830 machines, but only a fraction of that number were delivered by the time Germany invaded France in May 1940. The 350 series of bombers were manufactured in two variants. The 351 aircraft were twin-tailed, while the 354 aircraft were single-tailed; the reason why 354 variant was manufactured was to satisfy war demands. The first available 351/354 bombers were assigned to GB 1/21 and GB II/21 based in Avignon, France. The first missions carried out took place on 16 May when they were sent over Maastricht in the Netherlands for an armed reconnaissance flight. In Jun, GB I/34 and GB II/34 also received their bombers, but none of them would serve in combat before the fall of France. By the time France surrendered, three were lost during combat and ten were lost during training accidents. On 17 Jun, surviving 351/354 aircraft flew to North Africa, with 37 of them arriving safely. Five of them were taken over by the Vichy-French military after the French surrender and were used as mail carriers. Four of them were captured by the Germans and were used as transports. In total, only about 86 machines, including prototypes, were built.

SPECIFICATIONS

354

Machinery	Two Gnome-Rhône 14N48/49 14-cylinder air-cooled radial engines rated at 1,044hp each
Armament	3x7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns or 2x7.5mm MAC 1934 machine guns plus 1x20mm Hispano-Suiza HS.404 cannon, up to 1,250kg of bombs
Crew	4
Span	22.83 m
Length	14.50 m
Height	4.06 m
Wing Area	67.00 m²
Weight, Empty	4,270 kg
Weight, Loaded	11,285 kg
Speed, Maximum	480 km/h
Service Ceiling	10,000 m
Range, Normal	3,500 km