Copyright 2010 by Brandon Cope

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Caudron C.714 Cyclone fighter

The C.714 was the end result of several years development of a lightweight, all-wood fighter. The C.714 was a thin but well-streamlined aircraft with the cockpit set well-back from the nose. The wings were actually too thin to hold weapons so the guns were mounted in streamlined pods under the wings. Unfortunately, the planes were easy to damage and had a weak armament by 1940 standards. The planes were also underpowered.

Ninety planes were built but exact distribution is uncertain. Six were sent to Finland in early 1940 and some 20 were taken over by the Germans after France surrendered. An unknown number were retained by the Vichy forces. Perhaps 35-40 were used by Polish pilots in exile in France; despite the unsatisfactory performance of the planes, the Poles continued to operate them for lack of any replacements.

The C.714 uses 15.1 gallons of aviation fuel per hour at routine usage.

Subassemblies: Recon Fighter chassis with Good streamlining +2, Recon Fighter Wings +2, three retractable wheels +0.
Powertrain: 336-kW aerial HP gasoline engine with 336-kW prop and 45-gallon standard fuel tanks [Wings and Body].
Occupancy: 1 CS  Cargo: 1 Body

Armor
Body/Wings: 2/3W
Wheels: 2/3

Armament
4*Aircraft LMG/7.5mm MAC Mle 34 [Wings:F]* (500 each).
* Link fires all four guns

Equipment
Body: Medium radio receiver and transmitter, precision navigation instruments, autopilot.

Statistics

HT: 8
HP: 60 [body], 50 [each wing], 8 [each wheel]
 

Design Notes
Design speed was 311 mph. The historical speed has been used, as well as the actual wing area (135 square feet). The cost, weight and HPs of the wings were doubled and those of the chassis quadrupled. Even with this, loaded weight was increased by 33%.

Variants
The C.710 used fixed landing gear and had one 20mm cannon under each wing.

The proposed C.720 was a trainer with a 75-kW or 164-kW engine,