Couzinet 70

The Couzinet 70, also known as the Couzinet 70 Biarritz, was a French three‑engine transport aircraft designed and built by René Couzinet’s Société des Avions René Couzinet in the early 1930s. First flown on 24 March 1934, the type was developed as a larger, more capable successor to Couzinet’s earlier twin‑engine designs such as the 30 and 33. Its airframe featured the characteristic streamlined, low‑wing monoplane layout with an all‑metal, semi‑monocoque fuselage and a distinctive “double‑wing” where the outer panels could be folded for storage. Powered by three 340 hp Gnome‑Rhône 7Ksi radial engines mounted on the wing’s leading edge, the aircraft could carry up to nine passengers or equivalent cargo over a range of roughly 1,200 km at a cruising speed near 260 km/h. The Couzinet 70 was employed by the French postal service and a few commercial operators, proving useful for short‑haul routes across Europe and North Africa. Although only a handful were built, the type demonstrated René Couzinet’s ambition to combine aerodynamic efficiency with operational practicality, influencing later French multi‑engine transports and marking an important step toward the more prolific Couzinet 80 series.