The écoèLatécoère 380 was a flying boat airplane built in France in 1928 for use on Aéropostale's mail routes to South America. The plane later saw military service as a maritime patrol aircraft.
It was a conventional flying boat design with a parasol wing braced to sponsons on the fuselage sides, and two engines mounted in a tandem push-pull pair. In September 1931, it was used to set six world seaplane records, including three speed-with-load-over-distance records and a closed circuit distance-with-load record of . A second mail plane was constructed soon afterwards, with the three military examples following in 1934.
Variants
Latécoère 380 - mailplane version (2 built) Latécoère 381 - maritime patrol version (3 built). Armed with twin 7.5 mm Darne machine guns in three positions, and 300 kg (660 lb) of bombs on underwing racks.
Unbuilt variants
Latécoère 382 - tandem Hispano engines, weights and performance similar to Latécoère 381. Latécoère 383 - 'Un Hydravion d'exploration', with reduced span and wing area and four 350 hp Gnome-Rhône 7Kd engines mounted fore and aft of the wing in tandem pairs. The cabin was enlarged and fitted out as living quarters. Latécoère 383 bis - The Latécoère 383 fitted with Latécoère 381 wings. Latécoère 384 - The designation of the Latécoère 383 fitted with four 350 hp Hispano-Suiza 9Qa engines. Latécoère 384 bis - The designation of the Latécoère 383 bis fitted with four 350 hp Hispano-Suiza 9Qa engines. Latécoère 385 - The designation of the Latécoère 383/4 fitted with three 500 hp Gnome-Rhône 9Kbr engines, two tractor and one pusher in wing mounted nacelles. Latécoère 386 - The designation of the Latécoère 381 fitted with three 700 hp Gnome-Rhone 14Kbr engines, two tractor and one pusher in wing mounted nacelles.
Operators
Aéronavale
Escadrille 3E3 (Saint-Raphaël, 1934) Aéropostale
Specifications (Laté 380)