Potez 840

The Potez 840 was a 1960s French four-engined 18-passenger executive monoplane, the last aircraft to use the Potez name.

Potez 840
Aero-Dienst Potez 841 at Munich Riem Airport (1968)
Role 18-Passenger executive transport monoplane
Manufacturer Potez
First flight 29 April 1961
Produced 1961–1967
Number built 8

Development

The Potez 840 was an all-metal cantilever-wing monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. It had a crew of three and a cabin for 18 passengers. It was powered by four 440 shp (328 kW) Turbomeca Astazou II turboprop engines. The prototype first flew on 29 April 1961; a second aircraft flew in June 1962 and had more powerful 600 shp (447 kW) Turbomeca Astazou XII engines. The second prototype carried out a sales tour of North America and it was planned to build a batch of 25 aircraft for Chicago-based Turbo Flight Inc. but only two more prototype aircraft were built, one for static testing.[1] The next two aircraft were designated the Potez 841 and were powered by 550 shp (417 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 turboprop engines. Another two modified Astazou-powered aircraft were produced, one in 1965 and one in 1967.

It was intended to build Potez 840s in a factory in Baldonnel in the Republic of Ireland with financial aid from the Government of Ireland but this factory was closed in 1968 without completing a single aircraft.[2][3]

Variants
Potez 840
Astazou-powered variant, four built.
Potez 841
PT6-powered variant, two built.
Potez 842
Modified Aztazou-powered variant, two built.

Survivors
  • One aircraft is displayed at the Musée de l’air et de l’espace in Paris.
  • The intact fuselage of a second is in the Shetland Islands. It suffered a wheels-up landing at Sumburgh Airport in 1981. Many years later the fuselage was recovered and moved to its current location.[4]
Potez 840 fuselage near North Roe, Shetland.

Specifications (Potez 842)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66.[5]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 2
  • Capacity: 24 passengers
  • Length: 15.89 m (52 ft 2 in)
  • Wingspan: 19.60 m (64 ft 4 in)
  • Height: 5.19 m (17 ft 0 in)
  • Wing area: 35.0 m2 (377 sq ft)
  • Aspect ratio: 10.75:1
  • Airfoil: NACA 63 (modified)
  • Empty weight: 5,430 kg (11,971 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 8,900 kg (19,621 lb)
  • Fuel capacity: 2,000 L (530 US gal; 440 imp gal)
  • Powerplant: 4 × Turbomeca Astazou X turboprops, 480 kW (640 shp) each
  • Propellers: 3-bladed, 2.07 m (6 ft 9 in) diameter

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 500 km/h (310 mph, 270 kn) at sea level
  • Cruise speed: 400 km/h (250 mph, 220 kn) at 6,000 m (20,000 ft) (econ cruise)
  • Stall speed: 135 km/h (84 mph, 73 kn)
  • Never exceed speed: 610 km/h (380 mph, 330 kn)
  • Range: 3,000 km (1,900 mi, 1,600 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 8,000 m (26,000 ft)
  • Rate of climb: 10.49 m/s (2,065 ft/min)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References
Notes
  1. Dawydoff Flying August 1961, p. 25.
  2. "Dáil Éireann – Volume 235 – 25 June, 1968 – Committee on Finance. – Vote No. 40—Industry and Commerce". Parliamentary Debates. Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas. 25 June 1968. Archived from the original on 7 June 2011. Retrieved 23 November 2009.
  3. "Potez Irish Closure". Flight International. No. 8 August 1968. p. 197.
  4. Pictures of crashed aircraft on Aviation Forum
  5. Taylor 1965, pp. 51–52.
Bibliography
  • Dawydoff, Alex (August 1961). "From France: Potez 840 Light Transport". Flying. Vol. 69 no. 2. pp. 25, 88–89.
  • Taylor, John W. R. (1965). Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66. London: Samson Low, Marston.
  • Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions.
  • The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing. pp. 2776–7.
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