Dewoitine D.500

what is it?

The Dewoitine D.500 was an all-metal, open-cockpit, fixed-undercarriage monoplane fighter aircraft designed and produced by French aircraft manufacturer Dewoitine. Developed to meet a specification issued by the French Air Ministry in 1930, the D.500 was intended to be a more capable replacement to the Nieuport 62. Ordered by the French Air Force during November 1933 and introduced in its initial model during 1935, the design was developed into several variants, most notably the D.510, which was re-engined with the more powerful Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs powerplant.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 12.1 m wingspan

base stats

• speed 402 km/htop speed
• range 700 kmwithout refuelling
• size 1,929 kgmax take-off weight
• built 360made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 94 years ago, in 1932.
• 🏎️Top speed is 3.1× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
• 🚗Wingspan of 12.1 m: about 3 cars parked nose to tail.
• 🏔️Can fly 1.2× higher than Mount Everest (8,849 m).

piston: A car-like piston engine turning a propeller: simple and cheap, the classic small plane.

spec sheet

first flight

1932-06

introduced

1935

status

retired

number built

360

role

fighter aircraft

makers

Ateliers et Chantiers de la Loire, Lioré et Olivier, Dewoitine

engines

1× Hispano-Suiza 12Ycrs / Hispano-Suiza 12Y / Hispano-Suiza 12X

length

7.9 m

wingspan

12.1 m

height

2.4 m

max take-off weight

1,929 kg

top speed

402 km/h

range

700 km

ceiling

11,000 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.