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The Dewoitine D.332 was a 1930s French eight-passenger airliner built by Dewoitine.
Design and development
The D.332 was an all-metal cantilever low-wing monoplane. The pilot and co-pilot were seated side by side in a cabin located forward of the wing leading edge. A radio operator station was located behind the pilots, and it had a passenger cabin for eight passengers. The landing gear had trouser-type fairings on the main gear legs.
Operations
The aircraft first flew on 11 July 1933 powered by three Hispano-Suiza 9V radial engines. The prototype was named Emeraude (French: "Emerald") and carried out demonstration flights around European capitals. Emeraude gained a world class record on 7 September 1933 when it flew a 1,000-kilometer (621-mile) course with a useful load of 2,000 kilograms (4,410 pounds) at an average speed of 159.56 km/h (99.1 mph).
Designed to meet an Air France requirement for use on the route to French Indochina, the aircraft set out for Saigon on 21 December 1933 on a proving flight. The aircraft arrived at Saigon on 28 December 1933. On the return flight when only 400 km (250 mi) from its destination, Le Bourget airport, Emeraude struck a hill near Corbigny in a violent snowstorm and was destroyed.
The accident
On January 15, 1934, while flying from Lyons, France, to Paris-Le Bourget Airport outside Paris – the final leg of a flight that began on 5 January in Saigon, French Indochina, with stops at Karachi, British India; Baghdad, Iraq; Marseilles, France; and Lyons – the prototype Emeraude, operating for Air France and registered as F-AMMY, crashed in a snowstorm at Corbigny, France, killing all ten people on board. The crash probably occurred due to icing.
Despite the accident of the D.332, Air France decided to order three of an improved version designated the D.333. This was a heavier and strengthened ten-seat version, the fully loaded weight being increased by 1,650 kg (3,640 lb). The three D.333s were used on the Toulouse-Dakar sector of the Air France South American route for several years. Two of these aircraft were transferred to the Argentine Air Force after WWII and used, along with two 338s. Argentina had a total of two of each kind.
The D.338 was a development of the D.333 with retractable undercarriage. First flown in 1936 it had a slightly increased wingspan, and the fuselage was lengthened by 3.18 m (10 ft 5¼ in). For short routes, the aircraft could carry 22 passengers, aircraft used in the Far East were fitted with 12 luxury seats, including six that could be converted into sleeping berths.
Operational service
The D.338 had a reputation for reliability and was used during World War II in the French overseas possessions. Nine aircraft that survived the war were operated on the Paris-Nice service for several months.
Air France had the following Dewoitine accidents:
Date | Type | Registration | Casualties | Location | Notes | ||
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15-JAN-1934 | D.332 | F-AMMY | 10 | Corbigny [France] | On the final leg of a flight that began on 5 January in Saigon, the prototype crashed in a snowstorm at Corbigny, France. The crash probably occurred due to icing. | ||
23-MAR-1938 | D.338 | F-AQBB | 8 | French Pyrénées [France] | Struck the Pic des Cinq-Croix mountain at an altitude of 2,100 m. The airplane operated on a route from Dakar to Toulouse. |
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02-MAY-1939 | D.338 | F-ARIC | 9 | near Argana [Morocco] | Encountered icing during a flight from Dakar, Senegal, to Casablanca, French Morocco, and crashed near Argana, French Morocco. | ||
20-JUN-1940 | D.338 | F-ARTD | 1 | near Ouistreham [France] | Inadvertently shot down by French anti-aircraft fire. | ||
07-JUL-1940 | D.338 | F-AQBA | 4 | Gulf of Tonkin [Vietnam] | Shot down by a Japanese military fighter. | ||
10-OCT-1940 | D.338 | F-AQBJ | 3 | Carnotville [Benin] |
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??-???-1940 | D.338 | F-AQBH | ? | Indochina | Reportedly lost in Indochina. | ||
27-SEP-1942 | D.342 | F-ARIZ | 25 | Ameur-el-Aïn [Algeria] | Crashed after takeoff. |
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