Latécoère 298 | France's Best WW2 Seaplane?
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- Опубликовано: 19 окт 2024
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In today’s video we will be looking at an aircraft that is often overlooked, and quite rarely covered in any depth, despite being the French air force’s most successful military seaplane of the Second World War: the Latécoère 298.
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Sources:
Cuny.J (1992). Latécoère - Les Avions et Hydravions
Bousquet, G. (2011). Latecoere 290 & 298. Mushroom Model Publications.
www.aviastar.or...
all-aero.com/in...
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F.A.Q Section
Q: Do you take aircraft requests?
A: I have a list of aircraft I plan to cover, but feel free to add to it with suggestions:)
Q: Why do you use imperial measurements for some videos, and metric for others?
A: I do this based on country of manufacture. Imperial measurements for Britain and the U.S, metric for the rest of the world, but I include text in my videos that convert it for both.
Q: Will you include video footage in your videos, or just photos?
A: Video footage is very expensive to licence, if I can find footage in the public domain I will try to use it, but a lot of it is hoarded by licencing studies (British Pathe, Periscope films etc). In the future I may be able to afford clips :)
Q: Why do you sometimes feature images/screenshots from flight simulators?
A: Sometimes there are not a lot of photos available for certain aircraft, so I substitute this with digital images that are as accurate as possible.
Hi Rex! Some aircraft requests : Loire-Nieuport LN.401, Breguet Br.693, and of course the Zeppelin Staaken!😁
Well staying with the French weirdness my suggestion would be the Prototype french bombers
Like the Bloch M.B. 161-162 , Latécoere 570, and Bréguet 682
Are there any notable instances you could tell us about animals being kept aboard aircraft and perhaps even living on a specific airframe?
@@Zorglub1966 added to the list (if not already on there!)
@@SephirothRyu thats a fascinating topic, will definitely plan a video for this :)
The way the torpedo is integrated with the fuselage is ingenious.
It's a cool feature, I think the breda 88 has something similar but not for a torpedo
Would the ground effects Ekranoplans be an interesting video subject?
Thank you Rex for the attention you pay to the French aircraft memories. So many of them... Bloch, Morane-Saulnier, Dewoitine, Amiot, Potez, Breguet, Lioré et Olivier, Loire-Nieuport, Caudron, Couzinet 'Arc-en-Ciel' with Jean Mermoz....
The names are aerial poetry.
It's moments like these where i almost want to belive that the French are people too, worthy of care and considderation, with a proud history, hopes, and dreams.
But that obviously can't be true.
@@Grobut81 Oh you've seen Miraculous Ladybug too then ?
@@90lancaster I can't say that i have.
I cannot help looking at the 'land' version with the folding wings and thinking 'better than the Skua-Roc for the Royal Navy replacement of the Swordfish.
What replacement of the Swordfish?
@@jamesbugbee9026 Fairey Albacore etc etc. All failed and the Swordfish had to keep going on.
I've never heard of this one. Quite a good looking float plane.
Same.
Like the looks of it.
The nose reminds me of the MS 406.
@@Bird_Dog00 Agreed, it is somewhat reminiscent.
And she is quite elegant looking indeed.
Ohhh joy... I love this floatplane. I know that size isn't everything but look at those boots!
Calm Yourself, Bloodnok, or I'll revoke your Thunderbox privileges! No more curried eggs for you!
@@ianmcguinness5029 Oh dear Lord. Nurse, the screens!
I actualy love this design. Having a single engine torpedo bomber float plane is a great way to defend your coasts from enemy ships.
"Consistent and fairly reliable" Quite like a Volvo, eh?
Just pray that those ships don't have much AA weapons and no fighters around...
What great courage, pilots flying such missions! But a great way to defend against enemy ships? Duh, rather not.
Yes,brilliant
@@marcusbraun8889 Tbf, torpedo bombing was incredibly dangerous no matter what planes you did it with.
In actual fact, any form of bomber period faced tremendous losses without fighter escort.
Excellent,simply excellent.
As a french, Latécoère is probably one of the most tricky french word that you could ever try to pronounce.😁
Not difficult or tricky at all. I live in the Netherlands, have been watching French language films and French TV series (subtitled in Dutch) for most of my life and I have had French at school since I was 13. The accent aigu and accent grave give the pronounciation pretty much away and that's their purpose of course. But if you never learned what these diacretic signs mean...
@@charlesrousseau6837 That exactly what I wrote about earlier: the acute accent, or accent aigu. I guess native speakers of English are having a little bit of trouble with diacretic signs... 🙂
Easy guys, just relax, enjoy the video and drink your...Latte. 😅
@@marcusbraun8889 I second that. Bonne journée et à bientôt!
@@marcusbraun8889 😀☕
Last time I was this early, the RAF was still considering the Martin Baker M.B. VI for service
😂😂
Your wit is so sharp you may cut yourself 😅
@@JohnnyRocker2162What, like a Fire Nation Corvette?
@@nano-soaring-dashb2552oooohhh, hey Uncle!
And now i have a new " one of my favourite aircraft "
And i had never heard of it before. Keep up the good work Rex.👍
Looks strangely modern, reminds me of the Piper airplanes. Great video as always!
Thank you, Rex for another very informative video. I appreciate your attention to French aircraft that are often overlooked by aviation historians. This video was very informative. I would love to see a video on the Heinkel-115. An aircraft that was also used by both the Axis and Allied forces during WWII.
Holy cow I forgot about a 1/72 scale kit I have this aircraft this video is inspiring me to build it!!
Build it! BUILD IT!!!! 😉
@@Allan_aka_RocKITEman on it sir
And my friends are already writing a scenario for Mustangs and Messershmitts so we can use it in the game
Azur once made a kit in 1:48th
Amazing how great aircraft slip through the net of publicity. Well done for waking us up to this attractive aircraft. Looks like a cross between a Supermarine S.6B and a Fairy Battle. Many a floatplane can be surprisingly spritely. As a fan of 406s and 520s i thoroughly enjoyed this. Well researched. Great channel. Thank you
hmmm ,never knew about this aircraft either, and I thought I knew them all ! :D Good video.
Thanks for the video! I have always overlooked floatplanes until I started reading about the Solomons Campaign. Now I've taken an interest in them. Floatplanes means you could set up air bases rather quickly despite obvious disadvantages.
Any chance you could cover the Northrop N-3PB Nomad? It’s a lesser known(having only been operated by the Norwegians), but quite remarkable seaplane. It had a top speed of 414kph, and was armed with 4 fixed forward-firing .50 Cals, 2 flexible .30 Cals for the gunner, and some 2000lbs of ordnance including a torpedo.
Such a beautiful wing. Just look at that shape. Such a shame these did not survive.
allways love hearing about lesser known aircraft of ww2
I have a little book, floatplanes by one Greene. This aircraft is in it. Nice to see it here, Rex.
Nice sleek, looking airplane. Reminds me of a Spitfire.
It looks like a Yak with floats. I like it!
The four-seat variant with "two commanders" was probably a deal with having a mission commander who isn't actually flying the plane, and an aircraft commander (i.e., the pilot). Navy MARPATS do this. The pilot is in charge of flying the plane and the flight officer (not a pilot) commands the mission and tells the pilot where to go. I did this, effectively, as a Navy SWO standing the Tactical Action Officer watch (TAO) on a ship. The Seahawk would take off, then I would switch my radar display to the aircraft's radar, and along with the FLIR imagary I was getting, would tell them where to go. I'm not a pilot, but I controlled helicopters and dictated where they went and what to look at. In that sense, I was the mission commander. My guess is perhaps they flew LATE 298s in formation and one aircraft with the fourth seat had the mission commander directing where all the planes go. Especially as used in the antisubmarine warfare role (ASW). Tactically, if a plan only carried one fish (i.e., torpedo), you would want several planes so as to have multiple fish.
Very cool. Never knew about this plane, but it's amazing something that big and heavy could get into the air at all given how under-powered it was. The dual commander thing might have been to give the pilot a relief backup for long patrol flights. And I agree that the stowage space for the torpedo/depth charges/bombs was very clever.
Brilliant. Great work. The illustrations and photos, [especially the photo of the prototype mockup with armament]
were most illuminating.
What a fantastic video. I just learned about the 298 and thought it was a nifty little thing as I am becoming more and more appreciative of float planes. Great work as always!
Greetings from France. Thanks for the video. Almost had a heart attack in the first seconds when you talked about French Air Force (Armée de l'Air) when these belonged to the French Fleet Air Arm (Aéronautique Navale) instead. But this is a minor comment for a very good video thanks.
Those French naval aviators who sacrificed their lives flying the Laté 298, Vought 156 (Vindicator) and other aircraft are the unsung heros of the Battle of France. Unfortunately no Laté 298 has survived to this day even in static condition.
Side note: Latécoère 298 no 33 belonging to Escadrille (Flight) HB-2 of the Aéronautique Navale might be the one which ended in British hands that you refered to. On the 4th of July 1940, it was evacuated by its French Fleet Air Arm crew to Malta to join the Allied forces. I will check if they are the two same aircraft.
Thanks for this. I love learning about little known aircraft.
It seems like French designs are always on one side of the extreme, either incredibly beautiful or totally ugly. This one is beautiful.
Some of the worst bomber ones look like sightseeing trolleys.
Interesting plane. As for requests, this made me think of the Wright Brothers Model G, a seaplane.
Great that you made a video about this, it was on my list. I always thought it was an interesting plane but couldn't find much information about it. Now you've clarified things, thank you!
a nice looking plane for sure...
Thanks for a great about an interesting forgotten aircraft
Superb vid, thank you, Rex!!!
G’Day Rex, You do fantastic docos mate 👍 Thank you 🙏
Not a bad looking float plane.😎👍🏻
Great vid Rex, thanks for making a vid on this really fascinating French aircraft.
Great video as always!
I had indeed no knowledge about this plane! I would just throw a piece of advice and suggest checking the prononciation of french names, other than that, magnificent work!
Never even heard of this plane! Great find and episode! TY!
Would you consider doing a video on the Schneider Cup? I've already subscribed in anticipation.
Fascinating story!
So well researched and informative. Great!
Thanks again Rex Hangar for another fine Aircraft video.....
Shoe🇺🇸
One of my most favorite airplanes to fly in war thunder. And for the br it’s at, it’s fairly robust against what it faces in both attack and defense. It’s also fairly difficult to shoot down with just machine guns meaning I have survived attacks that would have downed anything else, several times.
Keep making wonderful videos!
I just started the french aviation tree on warthunder... I am suprised at how many boxes the planes check. Quad MG's, maneuverable and good speed. I really shouldn't be telling people about them but I can't help but love these planes.
Great video, Rex.
Great video! I suggest that you cover Dornier Do-22 and its service by Yugoslavia, Finland and RAF
I am an avid viewer and admirer of all your videos, wonderful stuff. would it be too much to ask for a final, probably sad, comment on the existence in whole, or part, of these amazing machines (flying examples !!! ho,ho,ho ) Thank you, what's the next one ............ ?
Thank you, very interesting!
Nice one thanks.
Another great video, Rex!
Great video thank you
Well done, as always!
Pretty bird. Looks the way a military floatplane should.
Side note. The Hispano Suiza 12 Y and especially it's YRS version was a brilliant engine. Sure, it was not on the level of the Merlin, but pretty darn close. Reliable, easy maintenance, robust.
The development and acceptance of this bird seems like a fairy tale after just watching the clusterfiasco that was the Curtis Helldiver.
Very elegant plane, Latécoère designed some beautiful planes in the interwar period, even if they were very often dramatically under powered. I had never heard of this one though.
Just a slight, tiny remark if you don't mind: to pronounce correctly Laté with the accent, imagine you're ordering a Latte in a coffee shop ;-)
I see a French Fairey Battle/Fulmar, is it just me? A little smaller but quite similar overall
I double dare you to repeat that company name. Slowly, after me: La-TEH-co-air
In my head, I hear it as "Latte'-coeur".
@@marckyle5895 Close, but coeur is only one syllable. Those accents are tricky
Beautiful plane.
Nice looking plane. I didn’t hear a single “whilst” in the narration. You’re slipping, Rex. 😁
I wonder why the cowling was wider than the spinner? Gives it a RR Dart turboprop appearance. Perhaps the carburetor intakes were there, or the spinner was smaller having the prop blade flanges outside of the spinner etc for servicing (Yes I see the coolant radiators are under wing root mid chord). A different convention for cowling design at any rate with neither Dewoitine or Morane Saulnier having this feature on their fighters with same engine.
I never know about this plane. Good looking for a French plane of this era
I flew with Ernie Gibson Lake Chelan to Stehekin summer of 1980.His Beaver float plane cost 25$ oneway.
Sure you got that right?
$25 for a turn on a nice Beaver isn't much even back then.
@@flickingbollocks5542 Yes it was.He would fly fly from Chelan, to Steheken. One interesting thing also. You would send a blank check to Safeway Chelan with your list and blank check on the ferry and your goods would come up on ferry the next day. This place was a story in the April 1967 Nat Geo.
Floats…pontoons are strictly for barges and temporary bridges.
"Laughs in PBY Catalina." It has them, and IS the float.
This looks like a slightly bigger than necessary Schneider Trophy contestant. This just proves that 'if it looks right, it'll fly right'.
Its a beautiful aircraft where form and function has merged.
But : The best seaplane torpedo bomber in the French Navy ? A category that is up there with the best German unicycle unit.
LOL. Good point. I bet pre-war thinking was that France would contest the Axis in the North Sea and Med.
17:02 - looks plane had fabric covered car like doors. Surprised how streamlined and successful design was. Compared to other mid 30s French boxy airplanes.
I think this are not Doors, its part of the Canopy, not sure if the folded it over or slide to close the Canopy
Give it a MAD and a homing torpedo and you would have a pretty effective sub hunter.
Or a dipping sonar. Like landing a Cessna 170 floatplane and trying to hook a fish!
0:36 not pronounced 'Late ' (a late plane doesn't sell well) but 'Laté' like an Italian latte (much more omph). And anyway a beautiful seaplane.
Reminds me of the Fairey Fulmar and the Japanese Judy dive-bomber. In my view, this is the most elegant float-plane of WW2. Why didn't Heller, Airfix or the old Frog company make a model kit of this beauty?
Last time I was this early there was only one govt in Moscow.
love this thing in war thunder
So pretty. Noice one 😉
Quite a nice looking seaplane! Now I really want it in War Thunder. 😝Of course one for the French tech tree, but also one for Germany (either tech tree or premium) with German guns would be awesome too.
This plane was added to war thunder during winter quest 2022 as one of the rewards but having a tech tree one would be nice.
i kept waiting throughout the vid for you to touch on the small prop infront of the big one, seen in some pictures. whats that for????
Charges the cigarette lighter 😉
@@JohnnyRocker2162 it wouldnt be a french bit of engineering if there werent at least a few wierd things about it x)
As a seaplane pilot, I'd fly this.
I've always had a soft spot for this aircraft.
Sou fã dos hidroaviões o meu preferido é O grumman j2f duck🌟
Good on you for covering lesser-known French planes. Now does the existence of a "late" 298 imply that of an "early" one? I jest, of course, the name is best pronounced "lah-teh" to avoid any confusion.
I'll have a mocker late with salted caramel please... 🙏
"Lah-tay-coh-air", if that's any help. Abbreviated form "Laté" => think "latte" as in coffee with milk.
Another beautifull forgotten plane.
Cheers
Does Icarus Art cover the Copland Wakefield of 1939?
Can you please make a video on the mb 326 k please 🥺🥺🥺
It personally looks like the p51's or spitfire's diabetic brother
It's actually quite a pretty plane like the Supermarine's chonkier older brother in appearance.
Just by the look you can say this thing was quite nimble and fast for a floatplane
Bombing a torpedo must be really difficult....
I have come up with a new nickname based on its numerical designation: "tuna", after the pronunciation of the 1st two digits
2-9 pronounced as "two-nine". Then "too-nayn" to "too-na" , which I reduced to "tuna"
The first plane you showed had the French Navy roundels.
It's nice. It suddenly make me wonder if the Nazis ever tried a floatplane modification to the Stuka.
So, essentially a short-fusalage floating Fairey Battle...
For those who want a short tutorial on how to pronounce Latécoère (don't do it like Rex) :
La (as in 'large')
té (as in 'terrifying')
co (as in cohesive)
ère (as in 'aERodynamics')
I was not inspired to make any subtle joke in the choice of examples. Please accept my profound and humble apologies. But, the thing as a whole should give you something approaching this :
(caffe) latte co' Eire.
(This last example is for simplification sake. Please refer to the first list of examples for the pronounciation aim.)
This should be understandable by any frenchperson you would say it to, given that this person would know about Latécoère. Which, sadly, is improbable.
It's a very good looking airplane. I've never flown anything with pontoons. It seems like it would throw off the feel of the aircraft badly. I'd like to hear from someone who has experience with such things.
Are you familiar with hull in water sea planes? They hit wave tops hard, the BANG BANG BANG BANG shock on just hitting water wave crests is quite surprising. Flying off techniques can be found on-line, the planing surface is forward of the C.O.G. so pitch stability shouldn’t be a big problem, yaw is a little bit like a tail dragger’s. Stopping and docking is a whole discipline of its own.
A little experience, no own landings or solo, a very long time ago.
@@givenfirstnamefamilyfirstn3935 I can imagine. It's a miracle they don't tear themselves apart.
@@applicationuser9764 Some, like in the recent Arado floatplane vid, will tear themselves apart on camera for you if you ask nicely.
La-Tey-Co-Eyr, Laté is pronounced like a "latte" coffee.
Mocker
@@flickingbollocks5542 I beg your pardon ?
@@clarksavage6050
A Mocha for me please
@@flickingbollocks5542 Get yourself another brew bitch pal.
I suspect that the two commanders is a rather mangled reference to two pilots.
Sounds political
Lateeh-co-air. Got it. In short as the type it's just lateeh, like the coffee product with milk, since latte is milk.
More French aircraft, please.
Only reason I know about this plane is because of Hearts of Iron 4, in which it is both France's Tier I Naval Plane, Recon Plane *and* CAS.