Potez 840 Explained

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 cantilever-wing monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. It had a crew of three and a cabin for 18 passengers. It was powered by four 440 shp (328 kW) Turbomeca Astazou II turboprop engines. 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 were powered by 550 shp (417 kW) Pratt & Whitney Canada PT6A-6 turboprop engines. Another two modified Astazou-powered aircraft were produced, one in 1965 and one in 1967.

It was intended to build Potez 840s in a factory at Baldonnel Aerodrome in the Republic of Ireland with financial aid from the Government of Ireland but this factory was closed in 1968 without completing a single aircraft.^[2] ^[3] The former Potez factory at Baldonnel became an engine maintenance facility for the German airline Lufthansa with the factory finally closing in 2013.^[4]

Service

The two Potez 841s were delivered to German customers in 1965, remaining in use until the mid 1970s. The first Potez 842 was operated by the French national civil pilot training school, Service de la Formation Aéronautique (SFA) from 1966 to 1976, while the second 842 was purchased by the Moroccan Ministry of Defense, being sold on in 1978.

Variants

Potez 840

Astazou-powered variant, four built.

Potez 841

Production variant powered by 558shp Pratt & Whitney PT6A-6 engines, two built.^[5]

Potez 842

Production variant powered by 640shp Turbomeca Astazou XII engines, two built.^[5]

Potez 843

Unbuilt 1965 proposal with deeper fuselage and PT6 engines.^[6]

Potez 880

Unbuilt military STOL version with four 917shp Turbomeca Bastan engines.^[6]

Potez 881

Unbuilt civil version of 880.^[6]

Survivors

One aircraft is displayed at the Musée de l’air et de l’espace in Paris.^[4]
The intact fuselage of a second is in the Shetland Islands. It suffered a wheels-up landing at Sumburgh Airport in 1981. Many years later the fuselage was recovered and moved to its current location at North Roe in 2007.^[4] ^[7]

Bibliography

Book: Chillon . Jacques . Dubois . Jean-Pierre . Wegg . John . French Post-War Transport Aircraft . 1980 . Air-Britain . Tonbridge, UK . 0-85130-078-2. amp.
Dawydoff . Alex . From France: Potez 840 Light Transport. Flying. August 1961. 25, 88–89. 69. 2 . 17 November 2021.
Potez 840 for RAF? . Air-Britain Aeromilitaria . March 2017 . 43 . 13 . 0262-8791.
Simpson . Rod . Elegant Imperfection. The Aviation Historian . 2014 . 35 . 101–107 . 2051-1930.
Book: Taylor, John W. R.. John W. R. Taylor . Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1965–66 . 1965 . Sampson Low, Marston . London.
Book: Taylor, Michael J. H. . Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation . 1989 . Studio Editions . London .
Book: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Aircraft (Part Work 1982–1985). Orbis Publishing. 2776–7.

Notes and References

Dawydoff Flying August 1961, p. 25.
Web site: Dáil Éireann – Volume 235 – 25 June, 1968 – Committee on Finance. – Vote No. 40—Industry and Commerce. 25 June 1968. Parliamentary Debates. Office of the Houses of the Oireachtas. 23 November 2009. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20110607142221/http://historical-debates.oireachtas.ie/D/0235/D.0235.196806250050.html. 7 June 2011.
Potez Irish Closure . . 8 August 1968 . 197.
Air-Britain Aeromilitaria March 2017, p. 13
Chillon, Dubois & Wegg 1980, pp. 98–99
Chillon, Dubois & Wegg 1980, p. 98
Pictures of crashed aircraft on Aviation Forum