In 1936, the Société Amiot
presented a new aircraft at the Salon de l'Aéronautique: the Amiot
341, a fast twin-engine long-haul. It is actually derived from
the 340BR and 341BR projects, bi-engine bomber de retaliation
three-seat. Its military descendants is blatant, since it is equipped
with ventral doors opening on a hold ...
The prototype Amiot 340
n ° 01, equipped with Gnome-Rhone 14 N-0/1 of 920CV, made its
first flight on December 6, 1937. It was then taken into account
by the CEMA for testing in March 1939. Tests that had to train
a series of modifications, which were however delayed: the aircraft
was used in a propaganda operation by transporting General Vuillemin
to Berlin in August: the aim was to show to foreign missions the
"modernity" of French aviation ...
Back in the factory, he
finally received his modifications: motorization by Gnome-Rhone
14 N-20/21 of 1020CV, addition of an additional ventral defense
post, installation of a double drift. Thus equipped, the aircraft
became the Amiot 351 No. 01, and it resumed its tests in January
of 1939.
In this version, several
variants are studied: Amiot 354/356/370 / ... (see Ch. Versions
below).
A first order of 130 aircraft
(Amiot 351-353-354) was issued by the Ministry of Air in 1938,
a figure which reached 880 aircraft after the declaration of war.
The production forecast, very optimistic, provided for 130 aircraft
per month.
The first Amiot 351 of
series did its first flight only in November 1939, delayed by
numerous modifications and frequent strikes. It was followed quickly
by the first Amiot 354 of series, version that differed from Amiot
351 only by Its mono-drift. The first tests resulted in a series
of modifications, and it was not until January 1940 that the tests
resumed. The production started very slowly: the aircraft was
complex to produce and required a lot of logistics: the fuselage
was made in Colombes, the wings in Cherbourg, the drift in Boulogne-Billancourt,
all assembled at Le Bourget ... So, in April 1940, only 21 aircraft
were taken into account instead of the 285 planned. In May, the
Air Force received a total of 17 Amiot 351 and 40 Amiot 354. Few
units saw the new aircraft, and the number of machines in service
could be estimated at 86. During this brief commitment period,
13 Amiot were lost, including 3 in battle. Groups equipped with
Amiot 351-354 pass in AFN from 20 June. 37 aircraft crossed the
Mediterranean, but 5 of them were lost for various reasons. Finally,
these units equipped with aircraft without spare parts, in the
production site situated in metropolis had only not much fighting
value, and the survivors are repatriated in France to be disarmed.
Only 5 of them, 3 Amiot
354, Amiot 356 and Amiot 370 will be still used as aircraft of
fast connections. In November 1942, during the invasion of the
Free Zone, the Germans recovered 4 aircraft.
