Lioré et Olivier LeO 20

LeO 20
	Lioré et Olivier LeO 20
Role	night-bomber
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Lioré et Olivier
First flight	1927
Introduction	1928
Retired	1939
Status	retired
Primary user	French Air Force
Number built	320
Developed from	Lioré et Olivier LeO 122

LeO 208

The Lioré et Olivier LeO 20 was a French night-bomber aircraft built by Lioré et Olivier.

Development

The LeO 20 was a development of the LeO 122 prototype. It won the 1926 French ministry competition for a new night-bomber, and received an order for 50 aircraft. The first were delivered at the end of 1926 and flight tested at Villacoublay in 1927. A total of 311 aircraft were delivered to the French air arm, ending in December 1932.^[2]

Variants

LeO 20: twin-engine night bomber with Gnome-Rhône 9Ady engines (320 built)
LeO 201: re-designation for parachute trainers converted from LeO 20
LeO 203: four-engine version with Gnome-Rhône 7Kb engines
LeO H-20/4: floatplane version of LeO 203
LeO 206: production version of LeO 203 with revised nose, ventral "balcony" and tail gun (37 built)
LeO 207: similar to LeO 206 but with different nose and smaller "balcony" (3 built)
LeO 208: similar to LeO 20 but with enclosed cabin and Gnome-Rhône 14Mrs engines

Operators/Units using this aircraft

France

Romania

Royal Romanian Air Force^[3]

Specifications (LeO 20)

Data from Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928,^[4]^[1]

General characteristics

Crew: 3
Length: 13.77 m (45 ft 2 in)
Wingspan: 22.2 m (72 ft 10 in)
Height: 4.26 m (14 ft 0 in)
Wing area: 105 m² (1,130 sq ft)
Empty weight: 2,580 kg (5,688 lb)
Gross weight: 5,060 kg (11,155 lb)
Max takeoff weight: 5,600 kg (12,346 lb)
Powerplant: 2 × Gnome et Rhône 9Ady Jupiter 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engine, 360 kW (480 hp) each
Propellers: 2-bladed fixed pitch wooden propellers

Performance

Maximum speed: 196 km/h (122 mph, 106 kn) at sea level

189 km/h (117 mph; 102 kn) at 3,000 m (9,800 ft)

Range: 1,000 km (620 mi, 540 nmi)
Service ceiling: 5,750 m (18,860 ft)
Time to altitude: 3,000 m (9,800 ft) in 18.6 minutes
Wing loading: 48.2 kg/m² (9.9 lb/sq ft)
Power/mass: 0.1208 kW/kg (0.0735 hp/lb)

Armament

Guns: provision for 2x 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine-guns at nose and dorsal positions and 1x 7.7 mm (0.303 in) machine-gun at ventral position.
Bombs: 10x 50 kg (110 lb) bombs internally or 7x 70 kg (150 lb) bombs under the centre-section / centre fuselage; maximum 500 kg (1,100 lb)

References

^ ^a ^b Sharpe, Michael (2000). Biplanes, Triplanes, and Seaplanes. London: Friedman/Fairfax Books. p. 243. ISBN 1-58663-300-7.
^ Donald, David, ed. (1997). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Prospero Books. p. 565. ISBN 1-85605-375-X. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
^ Dan Antoniu (2014). Illustrated History of Romanian Aeronautics. p. 89. ISBN 978-973-0-17209-6.
^ Grey, C.G., ed. (1928). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. pp. 107c.

Bibliography

Hartmann, Gérard. Les Avions Lioré Et Olivier. Boulogne-Billancourt, France: ETAI. 2002. ISBN 2-7268-8607-8 (in French)

[BTS-1] Sharpe, Michael (2000). Biplanes, Triplanes, and Seaplanes. London: Friedman/Fairfax Books. p. 243. ISBN 1-58663-300-7.

[Donald-2] Donald, David, ed. (1997). The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft. Prospero Books. p. 565. ISBN 1-85605-375-X. {{cite encyclopedia}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

[3] Dan Antoniu (2014). Illustrated History of Romanian Aeronautics. p. 89. ISBN 978-973-0-17209-6.

[JAWA1928-4] Grey, C.G., ed. (1928). Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928. London: Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd. pp. 107c.

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