Potez 25 question

[leonardus]

I'm asking myaself what weapons carried the Potez 25 in romanian air force in early '40's and what was the real name: Potez 25 or Potez XXV ?

Leo.

[Ruy Aballe]

Hello,

As for the aircraft designation, I think that both could apply but Dénes is quite surely the right man to ask.
As for the guns, the Potez 25 exported to a lot of countries were armed with a single, forward firing, synchronized Vickers machine-gun. The Scarff ring mount on the observer station could be fitted with a pair of Lewis or, in later series, Darne machine-guns. The calibre was 7,7mm.
As for the Romanian-made Potez 25s, maybe the guns were imported from France or elsewhere. I will check the main reference on the aircraft, a book published by Avions/Lela Presse some years ago.

Ruy

[Dénes]

The offical name was Potez 25. I checked the available photos and on all Rumanian (and French) airplanes the type is given on the rudder as 'Potez 25'.
However, I encountered in official Rumanian documents and pilots' log books the Potez XXV version as well.

As for the armament, officially it consisted of a fixed, forward firing 7.7mm Vickers MG in the engine cowling, completed by one (or a pair of) rearward firing 7.7mm Lewis MG, mounted on rotating ring around the observer's seat. However, the armament can be seen on very few photos only.

[Ruy Aballe]

Hello Dénes,

I have a question concerning the forward firing armament of the Romanian-made Potez 25s.
Recently, I discovered that some of the Potez 25 made in Portugal by O.G.M.A. had a pair of forward firing, synchronized 7,7mm Vickers MG, in fighter fashion. This was done only on some machines to boost their ground attack capabilities (other interesting implements were tried too, like underwing gun pods, but these were never serial produced).
Do you know if the Romanian engineers tried the same, i.e. the fitting of two forward firing MG instead of only one, on locally made Potez? I am trying to ascertain this detail, because apparently only the Portuguese have done so.
Thanks in advance.

Ruy

[Dénes]

Sorry, Ruy, currently I don' have any further info on the armament of I.A.R.-built Potez 25s.

[Ruy Aballe]

Thanks Dénes. I think that we can assume that such armament layout (two forward firing Vickers MGs) wasn't fitted as standard armament to the I.A.R.-built Potez 25s, although this is still an educated guess.
On the other hand, the Potez 25s built in Yugoslavia by Ikarus only had one forward firing MG (the Yugoslav machines w./Jupiter engine were quite similar to the Portuguese production pattern, although the later had some differences in the nose shape).
Cheers,

Ruy

[Ruy Aballe]

Hello again,

I just received the set of drawings of the Potez 25 made for the Romanian magazine Modelism by Mr. Liviu Iliescu and I noticed an interesting detail in one of the side views of the Potez 25R-A2 (does the letter "R" means anything like reconnaissance in the Romanian designation of the sub-type?): the guns fitted on the Scarff ring look every inch like F.N.-Brownings (the hand-held version of M.36 to be more exact). Is there any photographic confirmation of this? Dénes, what do you have to say?
Interestingly enough, the last operational Portuguese O.G.M.A./Potez 25 saw their observer-manned weapons replaced by F.N.-Brownings around 1937/38, when a batch of these superlative guns was imported by the state to suplement and eventually replace both British and locally-made Vickers and Lewis types.
Cheers,

Ruy