War didn't stop the engineers to continue their work. Undercover, in occupied France, design teams worked on some more projects based of earlier designs to rearm a liberated France.
Fighter aircraft project. Benefitting from recent technological and industrial developments in the Free World in a pattern that could be easily implemented in surviving factories. It is based off of pre-war designs.
(armament : 2 synchronised 7.5mm machineguns, 1 nose mounted 30mm canon, 4 wing mounted 7.5mm machineguns and provision to carry several light bombs, one medium bomb or a fuel tank under the fuselage)
Inspired by existing designs of the different belligerents and taking into account the lessons from the operationnal use of twin engined heavy fighters and level bombers, engineers devised attack aircraft which could be used in dive-bombing, ground strafing, pathfinding and recce roles. Such aircraft were to be armed with twin 30mm canon in the nose and 8 7.5 or higher caliber machinguns in the wings and in the nose. The rear gunner concept was dropped altogether in order to gain weight in this airframe that counted mostly on speed to fend off potential enemies and allow for the second crew member to serve efficiently as a radio operator and navigator.
This exemple uses some aerodynamics refinments and engine improvement
The immediate post-war era gave way to a new generation of engineers. Although the french industry was on its knees and recovering from the 5 years of occupation, design teams quickly went back into activity using the previous work as a base for even more improved airframes.
Another twin engined aircraft was created from earlier work. It used aerodynamical solutions in rupture with those precedently used in the designs of this aircraft line. The ergonomy of the cockpit was also improved. Most of the gun armament was dropped in favor of only two nos mounted 30mm guns (while provision for additional nose guns had been kept). Its bomb bay had been removed altogether to give more room for fuel and onboard electronics. Armament was to be carried on hardpoints between the fuselage and the engine nacelles.
The improvements gave way to a radar equipped-version to be used as a night fighter and test bench for such systems. It retained the same armament.
The qualities of the platform led engineers to believe that it was fit to make a light attack aircraft. In the dwindling empire, french troops called for more close air support in counter insurgency operations. The type was thus uparmored, retrieved its wing mounted machine guns and gained 6 hardpoints under the wings (with the wingtip ones only allowing for light charges). The cockpit arrangement has been slightly retouched to allow for a better field of view. It was armed with 2 30mm nose mounted canons, 4 .50 machine guns and retained provison for gun camera, photo recce equipment and more guns in the nose.
These years were marked by the advent of jet engines. Several experimental airframes were tested. They mostly used decommissioned older aircraft as a base to test out jet engine performances and service. These designs, shall they prove successful where to be inducted in service. Using many components from older airframes, these were felt to be an economical way to let the Armée de l'air enter in the jet era.
A mixed-propulsion vehicle was tested but the formula had severe drawbacks and the already limited autonomy of those fighters was worsened by the additional weight of the jet engine, its fuel consumption and the drag caused by the propeller. The whole assembly wasn't structurally sound at high speed. It was severely underpowered.
It was meant to be armed with a 30mm gun and 4 7.5 or higher caliber machine guns.
Another version stripped of its piston engine was tested, gaining weight and reducing drag. It retained the same armament as the preceding version. This airframe was only seen as a stop gap. It was front heavy and even considered dangerous.
Taking into account the lessons learned from the first experiments in the domain of jet engined aircraft, a twin engined airframe was developped. It showed great flight qualities and was a leap forward from the earlier attempts. The type was to be armed with 2 20mm canons and retained a machine gun armament. Itwas considered too heavy and implied low top speed and high landing speed. The fuselage comprised enough room to allow for large-sized internal fuel tanks and thus a decent autonomy. It was eventually inducted as an attack aircraft armed additionally with rockets and possibly medium bombs. A tandem-seat version was also fielded for jet-flight accustomance and type specific transformation training.
Advances in engine construction allow to test out a more ambitious project of jet-engined fighter. It was single-engined. While it wasn't ironed out aerodynamically, it allow engineers to take a leap forward once more. The prototype was left unarmed
The same prototype has been reused as a test bench for the systems to be included in further works such as radars, weapon systems along with various bits of avionics and to monitor the additional workload on the pilots such systems involved. It was retrofitted with a maximum 4 20mm guns to test the impact of the guns on the air intake and to test newer gunnery sights.