The aircraft emerged in prototype form as the "LeO 45.01" and achieved its first flight on January 16th, 1937. It was clocked at speeds nearing the expected 300 mile per hour requirement during level flight and reached near 400mph speeds in a dive. There proved some stability issues that needed attention and the new engines suffered from their infant status.
The French Air Force put in a contract for 20 of the aircraft in January of 1938 and, aware of the engine problems, called for their replacement by the more reliable Gnome-Rhone 14N 20 series of 1,030 horsepower. The revision then produced the revised designation of "LeO 451.01" (note "451" not "45") and flight testing continued into April of 1938. By September, some five aircraft were delivered though the complete French Air Force order was for 222 and the French Navy followed with the navalized LeO 456 (also "LeO 451M") to number 68 units.
With the growing power and belligerence of neighboring Germany, the promising LeO 45 was rushed in serial production - any modern bomber was better than a fleet of outmoded ones - this done while the design was still being put through its paces. The eventual arrival of the LeO 45 in useful numbers was further delayed by production and material difficulties. Some featured non-standard propellers which reduced their expected speeds by as much as 12mph.
After the Low Countries fell to the Axis advance, the Battle of France saw what stock of LeO 45 bombers existed pressed into service in defense of the country. Total inventory saw fewer than 100 of the bombers available for service and combat attrition soon worsened the effort. German fighter pilots, while initially surprised by the rear-facing 20mm pursuit cannon, soon found the LeO 45's vulnerability lay in attacking her from below. This allowed a certain level of impunity for the aggressors and losses of French warplanes mounted - compounded by accurate German ground-based FlaK fire. France fell in June of 1940 after a little over a month of fighting.
The Germans continued production of the LeO 45 in French territory and added another 150 airframes. It did not take the aircraft into its own ranks as a medium bomber but instead used it as a transport. Some were also had by the Italian Air force as well and Vichy French forces operated the system as a trainer and transport until the end of the war. Some LeO 45s saw additional combat service over North Africa.
In the end, the LeO 45 was one of the few French aircraft of World War 2 to have survived all of the conflict for over sixty of the type were still in flyable condition by May of 1945. Some soldiered on into the 1950s with the last retired in September of 1957. One notable post-war mark became the LeO 455Ph, a fast-reconnaissance model outfitted with 2 x SNECMA 14R engines of 1,600 horsepower output and manufactured in five examples by converting existing LeO 451 marks.
A total of 561 LeO 45 aircraft were built in all.
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