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Dewoitine D.520

first flew 1938· fighter aircraft

🎖️ military piston retired
9 photos from Wikimedia Commons · credits & licences
  1. 1. Sion 1986 Dewoitine D.521: Anidaat· CC BY-SA 4.0
  2. 2. Dewoitine D.520, Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace, Le Bourget, Paris. (8211176327): Roland Turner from Birmingham, Great Britain· CC BY-SA 2.0
  3. 3. Dewoitine D.520 (MAE): Duch.seb· CC BY-SA 3.0
  4. 4. Dewoitine D.520 (Stammkennz. DR+Vx, SV+xx) weiterproduziert für dt. Luftwaffe u. Verbündete, 1941-43: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  5. 5. Dewoitine D.520 (Stammkennz. DT+Nx), weiterproduziert für dt. Luftwaffe u. Verbündete, 1941-43: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  6. 6. Dewoitine D.520 (Stammkennz. SN+Wx) weiterproduziert für dt. Luftwaffe u. Verbündete, 1941-43: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  7. 7. Dewoitine D.520, weiterproduziert für die 'Vichy Luftwaffe', 1941-43 (a): Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  8. 8. Dewoitine D.520, weiterproduziert für die 'Vichy Luftwaffe', 1941-43 (b): Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
  9. 9. Dewoitine D.520: Unknown author Unknown author· Public domain
Read about it on Wikipedia ↗
Dewoitine D.520, photo 1 of 9
1/9 Anidaat· CC BY-SA 4.0

what is it?

The Dewoitine D.520 is a French fighter aircraft that entered service in early 1940, shortly after the beginning of the Second World War. The D.520 was designed in response to a 1936 requirement from the French Air Force for a fast, modern fighter with a good climbing speed and an armament centred on a 20 mm cannon. At the time the most powerful V-12 liquid-cooled engine available in France was the Hispano-Suiza 12Y, which was less powerful, but lighter than contemporary engines such as the Rolls-Royce Merlin and Daimler-Benz DB 601.

How to recognise it: 1 piston engine with propeller · 10.2 m wingspan

base stats

  • speed 560 km/htop speed
  • range 1,250 kmwithout refuelling
  • size 2,785 kgmax take-off weight
  • built 900made 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 88 years ago, in 1938.
  • Top speed is 4.3× a car on the Dutch motorway (130 km/h).
  • Wingspan of 10.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.
  • Range of 1,250 km: 7× Amsterdam to Brussels.
  • Can fly 1.1× 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
1938-10-02
introduced
1940
retired
1953
status
retired
number built
900
role
fighter aircraft
makers
SNCAM
engines
1× Hispano-Suiza 12Y-49
length
8.6 m
wingspan
10.2 m
height
2.6 m
max take-off weight
2,785 kg
top speed
560 km/h
range
1,250 km
ceiling
10,000 m

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

Sources: Wikidata Q831251, Wikipedia: Dewoitine D.520 (CC BY-SA 4.0).Updated 2026-10-24.

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