__NOTOC__ The Levasseur PL.15 was a

torpedo bomber A torpedo bomber is a military aircraft designed primarily to attack ships with aerial torpedoes. Torpedo bombers came into existence just before the World War I, First World War almost as soon as aircraft were built that were capable of carryin ...

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tech ...

developed in France in the early 1930s.Taylor 1989, p. 575. It was a follow-on design to Levasseur's PL.14 that had, in turn, been developed from the carrier-based PL.7.Taylor and Alexander 1969, pp. 104-105. While the PL.14 retained the PL.7's boat-like fuselage (developed as a safety feature for

carrier-based aircraft A carrier-based aircraft (also known as carrier-capable aircraft, carrier-borne aircraft, carrier aircraft or aeronaval aircraft) is a naval aircraft designed for operations from aircraft carriers. Carrier-based aircraft must be able to launch i ...

ditching), the PL.15 was a purpose-built seaplane with an all-new, slender fuselage.World Aircraft Information Files, File 900 Sheet 06 The Aéronavale ordered 16 PL.15s for use aboard the seaplane tender ''

Commandant Teste ''Commandant Teste'' was a large seaplane tender of the French Navy () built before World War II. She was designed to be as large as possible without counting against the Washington Treaty limits. During the Spanish Civil War, she protected neut ...

'', and purchased and deployed the prototype as well. These were in service from 1933 to 1938, when they were put into storage. The PL.15s were reactivated with the outbreak of war in September 1939, and were used for anti-submarine patrol along France's Atlantic coast.

Variants

* PL.15 – main production version (17 built) ** PL.151 – radical inverted sesquiplane redesign with full-size mid-wing mainplane and small secondary plane mounted above fuselage (not built) ** PL.154 – landplane version (1 converted from PL.15)

Units using this aircraft

; * Aéronavale ** Escadrille 7B2 **

Escadrille 3S6 A flight is a small military unit within the larger structure of an air force, naval air service, or army air corps; and is usually subordinate to a larger squadron. A military aircraft flight is typically composed of four aircraft, though ...

Specifications

References

Notes

Bibliography

* Taylor, John W. R. and Jean Alexander. ''Combat Aircraft of the World.'' New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1969. . * Taylor, Michael J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989. . * ''World Aircraft Information Files.'' London: Bright Star Publishing.

External links

aviafrance.com
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