Eighty-six Amiot 350 series aircraft had been completed before the Germans occupied the Le Bourget factory in June 1940. They stemmed from the famous Amiot 370 record-breaking aircraft which set up five speed-with-load-over-distance records in early 1938 and from the Amiot 340, itself modified from the long-range postal Amiot 341. The Amiot 340 took Gen Vuillemin on his notorious visit to the Luftwaffe in August 1938. Converted to the Amiot 351.01 prototype bomber, it was followed by production Amiot 351s and 354s. Each version had a beautifully streamlined all-metal fuselage, a tapered mid-wing with considerable dihedral and twin Gnome-Rhone 14N radial engines. However, they differed in having twin oval fins and rudders and a large single vertical tailplane respectively. Armament comprised a 20 mm HS 404 cannon on a flexible mounting at the rear of the crew canopy plus single 7.5 mm MAC machine-guns in nose and ventral positions. The bomb load was up to 1,200kg. After a limited number of bombing and reconnaissance missions the Amiots were converted by the Vichy French for long-range liaison flights.

3-View

A three-view drawing of Amiot 354 (970 x 1054)