- Design and development
- Specifications
- References
| name=Latécoère 3 | image=Latécoère 3.png | caption= }}{{Infobox Aircraft Type | type=Two seat prototype for small passenger transport/postal biplane | national origin=France | manufacturer=Les Forges et Ateliers de constructions Latécoère | designer= | first flight= | introduced= | retired= | status= | number built=1 | program cost= | unit cost= | developed from= | variants with their own articles=
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The Latécoère 3 was a French biplane transport; the 1919 prototype was a two-seater but the unbuilt production version would have carried two or three passengers as well as the pilot. Design and developmentImmediately after the end of World War I, Pierre-Georges Latécoère began his career in aviation by building limousine versions of the Salmson 2 and of the more powerful Breguet 14, both French wartime two seat observation aircraft. The limousines replaced the open rear observer's cockpit with seats for two passengers, enclosed in a hump roofed, windowed cabin. They were known as the Limousine Salmson-Latécoère and the Limousine Breguet-Latécoère and both were used in numbers by the new Lignes aeriennes Latécoère. By the end of 1919 Latécoère had built a new and original design, which appeared at the Paris Aéro Salon in December of that year. Like the Salmson 2, it was a two bay biplane with unstaggered, equal span, constant chord, fabric covered wings fitted with ailerons on both planes and powered by a water cooled Salmson (Canton-Unné) Z9 nine-cylinder radial engine. However, unlike the Salmson 2 the Latécoère had an entirely metal structure, as well as completely redesigned wings of {{convert|1.1|m|ftin|abbr=on|0}} greater (9%) span and with a 24% increase in wing area. The greater area gave an increase in load from {{convert|546|kg|lb|abbr=on|-1}} to {{convert|740|kg|lb|abbr=on|-1}} and an improved commercial load of {{convert|445|kg|lb|abbr=on|-1}}; the low useful load of the Salmson 2 had been an important limitation. The Latécoère 3's vertical tail was angular, unlike that of the Salmson though similar to the Limousine Salmson-Latécoère. The intention was to provide the Latécoère 3 with a similar limousine type, two or three seat passenger cabin with space for post to be carried at the rear, though this was never built; the Salon machine had two open cockpits with the pilot in front, as on the unmodified Salsmon. It is not known if the Latécoère 3 was flown but it did not enter production; the small market for small commercial aircraft at this time was dominated by the large numbers of ex-service aircraft available at low prices and the modified Breguet 14 was too cheap for the Latécoère to compete with. Specifications{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Latécoère Les avions et hydravions p.36
|prime units?=met
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|crew=Two
|capacity=
|length m=8.25
|length note=
|span m=12.85
|span note=upper and lower wings
|height m=3.40
|height note=
|wing area sqm=46.25
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|empty weight kg=930
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|gross weight kg=1670
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=Salmson (Canton-Unné) Z9
|eng1 type=9 cylinder, water cooled radial
|eng1 hp=260
|eng1 note=, (260 ch)
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|prop blade number=2
|prop name=wooden
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|max speed kmh=170
|max speed note=at sea level, {{convert|159|km/h|mph kn|abbr=on|0}} at {{convert|4000|m|ft|abbr=on|-2}}
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References
}}{{Latécoère aircraft}}{{DEFAULTSORT:Latecoere 3}} 2 : French civil aircraft 1910–1919|Latécoère aircraft |