Potez 840

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

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

Development

The Potez 840 was an all-metal low-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. It had a crew of three and a cabin for 18 passengers. Powered by four 440 shp (328 kW) Turbomeca Astazou II turboprops two mounted on the leading edge of each wing. 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 they were powered by 550 shp (417 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 turboprops. Two more 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 Ireland, built with financial aid from the Irish Government, 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 can be found on the island of Shetland. 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: 3
• Capacity: 18 passengers
• Length: 15.89 m (52 ft 1 in)
• Wingspan: 19.60 m (64 ft 4 in)
• Height: 5.19 m (17 ft 0½ in)
• Wing area: 35.0 m² (377 ft²)
• Empty weight: 5,430 kg (11,970 lb)
• Gross weight: 8,900 kg (19,620 lb)
• Powerplant: 4 × Turbomeca Astazou X turboprops, 477 kW (640 hp) each

Performance

• Maximum speed: ^[6] 500 km/h (311 mph)
• Cruising speed: ^[7] 500 km/h (311 mph)
• Range: 3,000 km (1,865 miles)
• Service ceiling: 8,000 m (26,000 ft)
• Rate of climb: 10.5 m/s (2,065 ft/min)

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

• Cessna 620
• de Havilland Heron
• Piper PA-35 Pocono

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. 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.
6. at sea level
7. at 6,000 m (20,000 ft)

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.