| Potez XV | |
|---|---|
 Potez XVIIs in Bulgaria, 1928 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Reconnaissancebomber |
| Manufacturer | Potez PWS Plage i Laśkiewicz |
| Primary users | French Air Force |
| Number built | 687 |
| History | |
| Manufactured | 1923-1926 |
| Introduction date | 1923 |
| First flight | October 1921 |
| Variants | Potez 23 Potez 27 |
ThePotez XV (also erroneously writtenPotez 15) was a French single-engine, two-seat observationbiplane designed as a private venture byLouis Coroller and built byPotez and under licence byPodlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów andPlage i Laśkiewicz in Poland.
The aircraft was designed in the beginning of the 1920s by Henry Coroller inPotez works. It was a development of afighterSEA IV built bySociété d'Etudes Aéronautiques, a former firm ofHenry Potez and Coroller. Aprototype was flown in October 1921 and shown atParis Air Show that year. It was conventional biplane with a fixedtailskid landing gear and a nose-mounted 276 kW (370 hp)Lorraine 12D engine. The engine was later replaced by a 224 kW (300 hp)Renault 12Fe.
After a successful evaluation, the aircraft was ordered by theAéronautique Militiare as areconnaissance aircraft. The first aircraft were manufactured and delivered in late 1923.
Series-built aircraft were powered withLorraine-Dietrich 12Db V-12 engines. 410 were built in France. The aircraft was built in two main military variants:Potez XV A.2 reconnaissance aircraft andPotez XV B.2bomber-reconnaissance aircraft. A singleprototype of afloatplane variant Potez XV HO.2 was built. There was also an export variantPotez XVII of 1923, built for Bulgaria only, with the same LD 12Db engine.
Already in 1923, Poland bought a licence for the Potez 15 and started to manufacture them inPodlaska Wytwórnia Samolotów (PWS, 35 built in 1925) andPlage i Laśkiewicz aircraft works (100 built in 1925-1926).
A development of Potez XV wasPotez 27,
Primary user of Potez 15s was the French Air Force, from late 1923. Main user became the Polish Air Force with 110 aircraft bought and 135 manufactured in Poland.
In the Polish Air Force, they were used from late 1924. Their withdrawal from combat units started in 1927, then they were used fortraining until mid-1930s.
120 aircraft were sold to Romania, 12 to Spain, and eight to Denmark. Six Potez XVIIs were sold to Bulgaria.[1] 25 Potez XV A.2 were used in Yugoslavia.[2] These shared the engine,fuselage,undercarriage andtailfin of the Potez XV, combining them with the wings andstabilizers from a newer design, the25.
Wooden construction biplane with fixed landing gear. The fuselage was framed, with metal covering for front engine section,plywood covering for the midsection and canvas covering for the tail section. Rectangular two-spar wings, plywood (leading edge) and canvas covered, of equalspan. Crew of two, sitting intandem in opencockpits: pilot in front, observer in the rear. Conventional fixed landing gear, with a common straight axle and a rear skid. Engine in front, two barrel-type water Lamblinradiators below the fuselage, between the landing gear. Two-blade woodenpropeller.Fuel tanks in the fuselage. The pilot had one fixed 7.7 mm (.303 in)Vickers machine gun with aninterrupter gear, the observer had twin 7.7 mm (.303 in)Lewis Guns on aring mounting.
Data from Polskie konstrukcje lotnicze 1893-1939[3]
General characteristics
Performance
Armament
Related development
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