D.510

The Dewoitine D.510 was a French single‑engine, single‑seat fighter conceived in the mid‑1930s by the Émile Dewoitine company for the Aéronautique Navale. Its first flight took place in September 1936, and the type entered operational service the following year, equipped aboard the aircraft carriers Béarn and later the fleet’s shore bases. Built of all‑metal stressed‑skin construction, the D.510 featured a low‑wing monoplane layout, a fixed‑pitch two‑blade propeller driven by a 860 hp Hispano‑Suiza 12Ycrs18 V‑12 engine, and a relatively clean aerodynamic profile that delivered a top speed of about 470 km/h at altitude. The armament comprised a 20 mm Hispano‑Suiza cannon firing through the propeller hub and two 7.5 mm machine guns mounted in the wings, giving it respectable firepower for its era. Although its fixed landing gear and limited range made it less suited to modern carrier operations, the D.510 proved capable in the early stages of World War II, seeing action over France, North Africa and the Mediterranean. Its service illustrated the transition from biplane to all‑metal monoplane fighters in the French Navy, and the experience gained helped shape later Dewoitine designs such as the D.520, marking the D.510 as a pivotal step in interwar aviation development.