WWII Tech Pubs Briefing

Written by
Duane Godwin

Dewoitine D.520 of GC III/6 flown by Pierre Le Gloan attacking Fiat CR.42s of the Regia Aeronautica over Southern France, 15th June 1940. On this day, Le Gloan became the second pilot in WWII to down five aircraft in a single sortie, four CR.42s and a BR.20 bomber.

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Overview

The Dewoitine D.520 was the best fighter available to the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force) at the beginning of the German invasion of France in May 1940. In April 1940, in a comparison with a captured Messerschmitt Bf 109E-3, the D.520 was found to be inferior in terms of speed, but markedly superior in maneuverability.  D.520 pilots managed 108 confirmed kills, and 39 probables; this against 26 lost in air combat.  However, it appeared in insufficient numbers to stem the tide of the Luftwaffe.  French pilots had just received their D.520's and had less than one month to train in them in the earliest of units (some units had less than 3 days in the new aircraft before entering combat!). It's likely that after fully working up the D.520 with proper training the aircraft would have performed even better.  As opposing fighters improved, the production D.520's remained much in the same configuration as they appeared in 1940, and became progressively outclassed by their rivals as the war continued. The full potential of this excellent aircraft was never realized.

In 1927, due to a lack of orders, Emile Dewoitine moved his business to Switzerland and designed the D.27, a monoplane fighter adopted by the Swiss from 1931. In that same year, Dewoitine returned to France and reorganized his private venture as Societe Aeronautique Francaise and delivered limited numbers of a D.27 variant, the D.37, to the Armée de l'Air.  In 1932, Dewoitine began the design of what was to be first modern low-wing monoplane fighter in French service,: the D.500 series, based on the C1 requirement issued two years previously. In 1936, Dewoitine left SAF, and established an autonomous design bureau in June 1936 under the leadership of Robert Castello The new bureau's first task was to design a new C1 requirement (single-seat fighter) aircraft. The initial design was rejected by the Service Technique Aéronautique (Aeronautical Technical Service) of the Armée de l'Air as the projected top speed of 500 km/h was too low, who insisted that the minimum top speed should be 520 km/h. Dewoitine made some alterations to the design (now called the D.520 for the speed requirement), including a new type of Hispano-Suiza engine. By this time, the Service had chosen the Morane-Saulnier MS.406 as their new fighter, and rejected the D.520.

Dewoitine was confident that their D.520 was the better machine, and decided to carry on with the production of two prototypes at their own expense. Dewoitine's design office was absorbed by the Societe Nationale de Construction Aeronatiques du Midi (SNCAM), and he was named deputy managing director. On 3 April 1938, a government contract was awarded to Dewoitine, and the first prototype flew on 2 October at Toulouse-Francazal. After some modifications, the required top speed was achieved. During 1938, the French realized the poor state of their Air Force to wage modern warfare, and orders were placed for new machines. Two hundred D.520's were ordered by the government on 17 April 1939, less than two months after the second prototype made its first flight.

By the start of WWII (in 1939), only the three prototypes had flown, and the first production aircraft finally flew on 31 October of that year. Dewoitine made it into the order book again in June and September 1939, and also in January, April, and May 1940 with orders totaling 2,200 D.520's - 120 of them for the Aéronavale (French Naval Air Service).

A handful of D.520's were operational with Groupe de Chasse I/3 by the time of the German attack on France (10 May 1940). GC II/3, GC II/7, and GC III/3 were in the process of conversion to the D.520 from the MS.406 on the date of the attack. GC I/3 was hurriedly sent into battle, and as more D.520's became available from the Toulouse factory, they were rushed to frontline units as fast as possible. During the Battle of France, D.520's had accounted for 108 confirmed kills and 39 probables (versus 26 aircraft lost in air combat). Italy declared war against France on 10 June, and began offensive operations in metropolitan France on the night of 12-13 June with a bombing raid on the important French naval base at Toulon. It was in the defense of these raids that on 15 June, Adjudant Pierre le Gloan, flying a D.520 of GCIII/6, shot down four Fiat CR.42 fighters and one BR.20 bomber in a single sortie, taking his score to 11. By the time of the Armistice, 437 D.520's had been built in Toulouse, 351 going to the Armée de l'Air and 52 to the Aéronavale. Of these, 106 had been lost in combat or, mostly, in accidents.

After the Armistice, 153 D.520's were located in Vichy France, 175 had escaped to North Africa, and three crossed the English Channel. At this time, the Germans allowed Vichy France to maintain a reduced air force. However, no D.520 was to remain in service in mainland France, and all surviving D.520's in France were dispersed and stored. On October 16^th 1940, the Germans reacted angrily when they learned that three D.520's of GCI/3 had landed in Gibraltar to join the dissidents.  They asked immediately for the group to be disbanded but its commander simply altered the name of the unit from GCI/3 to GCIII/3.  In April 1941, the German Armistice Commission approved the production for the Vichy Air Force of 550 D.520's from the SNCASE organization (SNCA du Sud-Est) who had taken over SNCAM's assets, and 349 of these were completed by November 1942.

Vichy French D.520's later saw action against France's former allies in the 1941 Syrian Campaign (Le Gloan accounting for six RAF Hurricanes and a Gladiator in his D.520), and during Operation Torch, the Allied landings in French North Africa in November 1942. The rapid declaration of the French African colonies for the Free French and Allied cause in the wake of Operation Torch carried consequences for mainland France: the Germans quickly swept into the "free zone" of unoccupied Vichy France, capturing 1,876 aircraft.  Among these were a quantity of airworthy D.520's as well as 169 still on the production lines. SNCASE was ordered by its new masters to continue production, and a further 129 D.520's were completed. Of the D.520's seized by the Germans, some were transferred to JG-103 and JG-105 (Luftwaffe training units). Sixty D.520s went to the Italian Regia Aeronautica, and were used as front-line fighters in defense against Allied bombers by Gruppi 8, 13, 22, 24, 59, 60, 161, and 169. The Bulgarian Air Force received 120 D.520's, and used them operationally against the US 9th Air Force. It was previously believed that the Rumanian Air Force had received a small number of D.520's, but recent information suggests that these were aircraft in transit to Bulgaria. Rumanian Air Force records do not seem to record the receipt of any D.520’s.

In August of 1944, as the South of France was being liberated, fighter Groupe Doret was formed and equipped with D.520's abandoned by the Germans in Tarbes and Toulouse. Groupe Doret was named after Marcel Doret, its commander, and the same test pilot that first took the D.520 into the air in October 1938. These planes took part in the attacks on remaining German resistance pockets.   In November of 1944, Groupe Doret was integrated into GC II/8 Saintogne of the newly formed Atlantic Air Forces.  D.520's of this group were used as escorts for A-24 Dauntless strikes on German-held pockets on the Atlantic coast.  In February 1945, the surviving Saintogne Dewoitines were then added to GCB I/18 and used as ground support and reconnaissance aircraft.  At the conclusion of this second Battle of France, only ten D.520's were still in flying condition in metropolitan France.

After the war, the D.520 served with training units in the new Armee de l'Air. Several were converted to two-seat configuration (D.520DC). The last D.520 was finally withdrawn from service in September 1953, and today no flying examples of this fine fighter remain.

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Variants

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Specifications

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