Type	s/n	French registration	German Registration	History
H. 246.1	02	F-AREI
H. 246.1	05	F-AREM
H. 246.1	06	F-AREN

 

Known German registration

German registration	Unit
24 + 62
AE + HC
A3 + KC

The Luftwaffe did loan three Sud-Est (Lioré-et-Olivier) H-246.1 flying boats to the Finnish Air Force in the summer of 1944, and these were supposed to have been operated by the so-called Detachment for Special Duties JAURI which was commanded by Lt Cal Jauri, and was to have used them in the transport role. In the event, the H-246.l proved totally unsuited for Finnish operating conditions, its draught and take-off run in loaded condition being too great for safe operation from Finnish lakes as intended and itsinstrumentation being unreliable, and the loan was rejected.

The H-246 was originally designed as a 26-passenger commercial flying boat for use by Air France on Mediterranean services, the prototype flying on 30 September 1937. Air France ordered six flying boats of this type, and the first production aircraft (F-AREI) and the prototype (F-AOUJ) were about to enter service on the Marignane-Algiers route at the begining of World War II. The Aéronavale planned to impress all six H-246.1s for the maritime patrol role, but the second (F-AREJ), fourth (F-AREL), fifth (FAREM) and sixth (F-AREN) production machines were completed to commercial standards, only the third production aircraft being completed for the maritime reconnaissance role. The commercial H246.ls continued to operate over the Marignane-Algiers route until November 1942, but F-AREI, F-AREM and F-AREN were subsequently seized and flown to Germany by the Luftwaffe. In Germany they were fitted with defensive armament comprising a 7,9-mm MG 15 machine gun in a bow turret, a similar weapon in each of two lateral positions amidships, and two moreMG 1 5s fired from windows on each side of the radio operator’s compartment at the rear of the flight deck.

The H-246.ls as used by the Luftwaffe carried 21 fully-equipped troops or 14 casualty stretchers, and their ultimate fate is unknown. Two H-246.ls, F-AREJ and F-AREL, survived the war and, with the end of hostilities immediately resumed operations on the Algiers route.