Dewoitine D.332

The Dewoitine D.332 was a 1930s French eight-passenger airliner built by Dewoitine.

D.332
Dewoitine D.332 F-AMMY "Émeraude"
Role Airliner
Manufacturer Dewoitine
First flight 11 July 1933
Primary user Air France
Number built D.332 1
Variants D.338

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 Émeraude ("Emerald" in French) and carried out demonstration flights around European capitals. Émeraude 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).

Assembly of the fuselage of a Dewoitine D.338 in 1934. Built in duralium, the aircraft differs from the D.332 / D.333 by its round window in the cockpit.

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, Émeraude struck a hill near Corbigny in a violent snowstorm and was destroyed. Despite the accident, Air France decided to order three of an improved version designated the D.333. The D.333 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 World War II and used, along with two 338s. Argentina had a total of two of each kind

Accidents and incidents

On January 15, 1934, while flying from Lyon, 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.[1]

Variants
  • D.332: Emeraude, prototype aircraft with eight seats. One built.
  • D.333: Production aircraft with ten seats. Three built.
  • D.338: Improved version with retractable undercarriage.

Operators
 France
 Argentina

Specifications (D.332)
Dewoitine D.332 3-view drawing from L'Aerophile October 1933

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft[2], Flight : The New Dowoitine Transport Monoplane, D.332[3], Aviafrance : Dewoitine D.332 'Emeraude'[4]

General characteristics

  • Crew: 4 (two pilots, radio operator and a mechanic)
  • Capacity: 8 passengers
  • Length: 18.95 m (62 ft 2 in)
  • Wingspan: 29 m (95 ft 2 in)
  • Height: 5.356 m (17 ft 7 in)
  • Wing area: 96 m2 (1,030 sq ft)
  • Empty weight: 5,280 kg (11,640 lb)
  • Max takeoff weight: 9,350 kg (20,613 lb)
  • Powerplant: 3 × Hispano-Suiza 9V 9-cylinder air-cooled radial piston engines, 429 kW (575 hp) each
  • Propellers: 2-bladed variable-pitch propellers

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 300 km/h (190 mph, 160 kn)
  • Cruise speed: 250 km/h (160 mph, 130 kn)
  • Range: 2,000 km (1,200 mi, 1,100 nmi)
  • Service ceiling: 6,300 m (20,700 ft)
  • Time to altitude: 4,000 m (13,123 ft) in 17 minutes 30 seconds

References
  1. "No title". aviation-safety.net. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
  2. The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). Orbis Publishing.
  3. "The New Dowoitine Transport Monoplane, D.332". Flight: 801. 10 August 1931.
  4. Parmentier, Bruno (26 February 2016). "Dewoitine D.332 'Emeraude'". Aviafrance (in French). Retrieved 15 December 2019.
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