Lioré et Olivier LeO 7

Lioré et Olivier 7
Role	Bomber escort biplane
Manufacturer	Lioré et Olivier
First flight	1922
Primary users	French Air Force; French Navy
Number built	39

The Lioré et Olivier LeO 7 was a French bomber escort biplane designed and built by Lioré et Olivier for the French Air Force.

Design and development

The LeO 7 was three-seat bomber escort biplane developed from the LeO 5 ground-attack biplane. Appearing in 1922 the production version (the LeO 7/2) had a wide-track landing gear and gunner's cockpits in the snub nose and amidships. The pilot was located in a cockpit just behind the wing trailing edge.^[1]

Operational history

Twenty LeO 7/2s were built followed by 18 LeO 7/3s which were a navalised version with increased wingspan.

Variants

LeO 7: Prototype
LeO 7/2: Production version for the Armée de l'Air (French Air Force), 20 built
LeO 7/3: Production version for the Aéronautique Navale (French Naval Aviation), 18 built.

Operators

France

Specifications (LeO 7/2)

Data from The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft^[2]

General characteristics

Crew: 3 (pilot and two gunners)
Length: 11 m (38 ft 0.75 in)
Wingspan: 18.59 m (60 ft 11.75 in)
Height: 3.9 m (13 ft 2.25 in)
Wing area: 68 m² (730 sq ft)
Powerplant: 2 × Hispano-Suiza 8Fb V-8 engines , 223 kW (300 hp) each

Performance

Maximum speed: 190 km/h (118 mph, 103 kn)
Service ceiling: 7,010 m (23,000 ft)

Armament

400kg (882lb) bombs

References

Notes

^ Taylor and Alexander 1969, pp. 97-98.
^ The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985. p. 2320.

Bibliography

Taylor, John W. R. and Jean Alexander. Combat Aircraft of the World. New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. ISBN 0-71810-564-8.
Taylor, Michael J. H. Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions, 1989. ISBN 0-517-69186-8.

[1] Taylor and Alexander 1969, pp. 97-98.

[2] The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982-1985). London: Orbis Publishing, 1985. p. 2320.

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