It was a conventional biplane with single-bay, unstaggered wings of equal span. The pilot and a single passenger sat in tandem open cockpits. It featured a fabric-covered fuselage in place of the C.230's wooden one, and other refinements including revised control surfaces and undercarriage, and an improved and simplified wing-folding mechanism.
The type proved immensely successful, with over 700 machines built in the decade leading up toWorld War II. Of these, 296 were purchased by the French government for its pilot training programme, theAviation Populaire. Many examples saw wartime service as liaison aircraft, and those surviving the conflict saw postwar use as glider tugs in theEcole de l'Air.
20th Century Fox used two Lucioles in their 1966 filmThe Blue Max. These had the rear seat converted into a machine-gun position so that they look like British observation planes. One of these survives on the American registry.
Bouhours, Bernard (November 2001). "Courrier des Lecteurs" [Readers' Letters].Avions: Toute l'Aéronautique et son histoire (in French) (104): 2.ISSN1243-8650.
Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989).Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 240.
World Aircraft Information Files. London: Bright Star Publishing. pp. File 891 Sheet 14.
