French Loire 46 Fighter Plane

By Crusader1307

An ''Inter-War'' Period Airplane, designed by The Loire Aviation Company in 1936 – The Loire 46 was a Bi-Winged Fighter Plane marketed and sold to The French Air Force (as Trainer and Front Line Fighter). An effective ''Air Combat'' Fighter that was unfortunately obsolete (even before it was introduced), most Models were exported to The Republican Air Force of Spain – in time for The Spanish Civil War. With 1939, and the start of The European Theater of World War II, several French Squadrons still were deployed with The Loire 46. Piloted by (1), The Model 46 was 26-feet long with a Bi-wingspan of 40-feet. Metal skinned (as opposed to the WWI Canvas), The Loire was powered by a single Gnome-Rhone 14-cylinder Engine. This produced 930-HP. A rather impressive speed of 230-mph could be achieved. The Loire 46 had an operational ceiling of 11,000-feet. Armament was simple, whereas no Ordnance configuration was ever conceived. They supported twin under wing mounted, 7.5mm Machine Guns.