Lioré et Olivier LeO 20 explained

The Lioré et Olivier LeO 20 was a French night-bomber aircraft built by Lioré et Olivier.

Development

The LeO 20 was a development of the LeO 122 prototype. It won the 1926 French ministry competition for a new night-bomber, and received an order for 50 aircraft. The first were delivered at the end of 1926 and flight tested at Villacoublay in 1927. A total of 311 aircraft were delivered to the French air arm, ending in December 1932.^[1]

Variants

LeO 20:twin-engine night bomber with Gnome-Rhône 9Ady engines (320 built)

LeO 201:re-designation for parachute trainers converted from LeO 20

LeO 203:four-engine version with Gnome-Rhône 7Kb engines

LeO H-20/4:floatplane version of LeO 203

LeO 206:production version of LeO 203 with revised nose, ventral "balcony" and tail gun (37 built)

LeO 207:similar to LeO 206 but with different nose and smaller "balcony" (3 built)

LeO 208:similar to LeO 20 but with enclosed cabin and Gnome-Rhône 14Mrs engines

Operators/Units using this aircraft

• French Air Force
  • 21st Regiments d'Aviation
  • 22nd Regiments d'Aviation
  • 12th Regiments d'Aviation
  • 34th Regiments d'Aviation
  • Aeronautique Militaire School
• French Navy

• Royal Romanian Air Force^[2]

Bibliography

• Hartmann, Gérard. Les Avions Lioré Et Olivier. Boulogne-Billancourt, France: ETAI. 2002. (in French)

Notes and References

1. Encyclopedia: Donald, David . The Encyclopedia of World Aircraft . 565 . Prospero Books . 1997 . 1-85605-375-X .
2. Book: Illustrated History of Romanian Aeronautics. Dan Antoniu. 2014. 89. 978-973-0-17209-6.