Translated from French
A young pilot officer GC III / 6 tells his contact with the D.520
In mid-June the GC III / 6, which was Luke from the beginning finally exchanged his Morane Saulnier MS 406 against the Dewoitine D.520 as expected. When the first detachment, including Jacobi, squadron leader of the 5th and the Gloan was returned, we started our tour to Toulouse. We laid us on June 15 at Francazal where we left our old Morane without regret. We were taken by bus to Toulouse where we took contact with the Dewoitine 520.
That they gave me was the No. 358. It was a beautiful aircraft, all metal, with a Hispano-Suiza engine with 12 cylinders in V with a power greater than the Morane, of the order of 920 CV. To compensate for the tilting moment (1) the engine was rotated 1 ° 30 'and the drift had an airfoil producing a compensation function of the speed.
He was armed with a 20 mm Hispano cannon firing in the axis of the helix, as the 406, but with a charger 80 explosive shells instead of 60, and four guns, with 2 in each wing with a belt loader 700 rounds per weapon instead of 350. They were heated. So we had 6 seconds of continuous shooting with the cannon (800 rounds / min) and 35 seconds with machine guns, which was significantly better than the 406.
The landing gear was mechanically locked in position "back" so no problem if ball from staying in the hydraulic circuit. It was a fast plane, credited with a speed of 550 km / h at an altitude of recovery (3), very fine to drive, which déclanchait (2) fairly easily, which veered well and were very healthy reactions . He could almost equal footing with the Me 109. If we had had at the beginning of the war, things would certainly have been different.
Amusing detail. The D.520 was equipped with a suitcase that took place in the fuselage behind the pilot. She had an interesting volume and it proved very useful during our travels by allowing us to take with us a lot of personal belongings.
When the grip on my new camera, I was surprised by the sensitivity of the rudder and I serpentais a little off, but I did it very quickly. After a few minutes of flight I returned Francazal ask that we left on patrol the next day to join the Luke. Upon landing, we were told what had happened the day before during our absence and how the Gloan and Assollant had been down 5 Italian aircraft in less than 45 minutes ...
Excerpts from the memoirs of Colonel John Menneglier, Flight Lieutenant to the 6th Squadron GC III / 6 in 1940 His Steed "Luke"
The DEWOITINE D.520 No. 358 will later be allocated to sub-lieutenant George Rivory in the fall of 1940 in Algiers White House
In this profile, we can distinguish the badge laughing mask of the 6th Squadron GC III / 6 of the drift and the baptismal name of the device "Quo Vadis" behind cockpit
This plane will be used later for the campaign of the Levant Lieutenant Leon Cuffaut GC II / 3 and will be destroyed by strafing June 26, 1941
Tranlstion of german/french to english... you get the gist.
A young German pilot of JG 101 training Pau speaks of D.520
"What comes first in mind, it is clear and syncopated revving engine Hispano Dewoitine 520's takeoff noise I could still easily recognize [...]. The plane terribly impressed us: it was a side "sharp" generator spectacular runway excursions and sometimes fatal rollovers. D.520 remained one off for many of us, a daily performance as its tendency to yaw crosswind could be difficult to counter. Already during taxiing, a simple blip coinciding with a bump or a gust of wind, enough to go on a wooden horse ...
With its wide track train (compared to the Messerschmitt 109) Dewoitine could be held easily. [landing gear]. It proved, however, be capricious operation: the most serious flaw that I found was a tendency of being not fully retract after takeoff. The wheels were blocked exactly in front of the air inlet radiator projecting under the fuselage and the engine temperature rose so quickly that I shook plane by small strokes stick forward to complete retraction of the train .. . If that was not enough, we had to take an emergency or select a field uncluttered.
But what plane! Very fine control pressures sufficient to pass any aerobatics and spinning a loop with two fingers. No German fighter of the time could offer such finesse, such elegance steering. After spotting the finer points of this thoroughbred, it remained for us to give us the joys of flying a real plane end performance yet very honest. Moreover, the Messerschmitt 109 G-6, with armor and weapons, I drove briefly in the late spring of 1944 was no more effective, and certainly less maneuverable.
Landing on Dewoitine 520 also asked some fingering, as the plane approached relatively quickly loaded m2. Because of this high speed landing, headed for disaster if we had not managed to put the bird in threshold ... [...]
This is definitely on Dewoitine 520 I had my greatest joys driver. A few months later, while I affrontai on a Focke Wulf 190 the formidable U.S. fighters over Germany, he often had to think with nostalgia in this agile little French fighter "
Extract AIR FAN # 31 (May 1981)
Feldwebel Ernst Schröder, survivor ll. / Sturm / JG 300
7 confirmed victories (6 Mustang, and a Stinson)
you can read the french version here
http://www.bibert.fr/Joseph_Bibert_fichiers/D520.htm
