Latécoère 25
title: "Latécoère 25" type: doc version: 1 created: 2026-02-28 author: "Wikipedia contributors" status: active scope: public tags: ["1920s-french-airliners", "latécoère-aircraft", "single-engined-tractor-aircraft", "high-wing-aircraft"] topic_path: "geography/france" source: "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Latécoère_25" license: "CC BY-SA 4.0" wikipedia_page_id: 0 wikipedia_revision_id: 0
::data[format=table title="Infobox aircraft"]
| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| name | Latécoère 25 |
| image | Late01.jpg |
| caption | Preserved Latecoere 25 displayed at the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina. It wears the markings of Aeroposta Argentina. |
| aircraft_type | Airliner |
| national_origin | France |
| manufacturer | Latécoère |
| primary_user | Lignes Aériennes Latécoère |
| number_built | 50 |
| first_flight | February 1926 |
| :: |
NOTOC | name = Latécoère 25 | logo = | logo_size = | image = Late01.jpg | alt = | caption = Preserved Latecoere 25 displayed at the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina. It wears the markings of Aeroposta Argentina. | long_caption = | other_names = | aircraft_type = Airliner | aim = | outcome = | related = | national_origin = France | manufacturer = Latécoère | design_group = | designer = | builder = | issuer = | status = | owners = | primary_user = Lignes Aériennes Latécoère | more_users = | service = | major_applications = | proposals = | prototypes = | number_built = 50 | construction_number = | civil_registration = | military_serial = | radio_code = | requirement = | aircraft_carried = | flights = | total_hours = | total_distance = | construction_date = | introduction = | retired = | first_flight = February 1926 | initiated = | in_service = | last_flight = | expected = | developed_from = | variants = | developed_into = | preservation = | fate = | predecessors = | successors = | concluded =
The Latécoère 25 was a French airliner built in 1925 for use on Latécoère's own airline and its subsidiaries. Essentially a refined version of the Latécoère 17 with an enlarged wingspan, it supplanted that type in production and then in service.
Operational history
As Lignes Aériennes Latécoère increasingly shifted its emphasis from carrying passengers to carrying airmail, the Latécoère 25 found its definitive role as a mail plane, and was widely used in establishing the line's South American services. Airlines which operated the type included Aeroposta Argentina. Like the Latécoère 17, it was a conventional parasol-wing monoplane with enclosed seating for passengers and an open cockpit for the pilot.
One Latécoère 25 was involved in a celebrated incident when it made a forced landing high in the Andes. Hitherto, flights between Buenos Aires and Santiago made a 1000 km detour to avoid the mountains. On 2 March 1929, while searching for a safe route across the range, a Latécoère 25 piloted by Jean Mermoz was caught in a downdraught and forced down onto a plateau just 300 m across at an altitude of 4000 m. With his mechanic Alexandre Collenot and passenger, Count Henry de La Vaulx, Mermoz spent the next four days repairing and lightening the aircraft and making a clear path from it to the edge of the precipice. He then rolled it off the edge, diving to attain airspeed, and successfully reached Santiago.
Survivors
::figure[src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0d/Late02.jpg" caption="Left side view of preserved Latécoère 25."] ::
The only surviving example of a Latécoère 25 is preserved in the Museo Nacional de Aeronáutica de Argentina in Morón. It wears the markings of Aeroposta Argentina.
Variants
;Latécoère 25 ;Latécoère 25-2R: production aircraft
Specifications (Laté 25)
|ref=Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928 |prime units?=met General characteristics
|crew=1 |capacity=5 passengers; 1068 kg useful load |length m=9.45 |span m=17.4 |height m=3.7 |wing area sqm=48.6 |aspect ratio= |airfoil= |empty weight kg=1650 |gross weight kg=3283 |max takeoff weight kg= |max takeoff weight lb= |max takeoff weight note= |fuel capacity=565 kg |more general= Powerplant
|eng1 number=1 |eng1 name=Renault 12Ja |eng1 type=V-12 water-cooled piston engine |eng1 hp=450
|prop blade number=2 |prop name=fixed pitch propeller |prop dia m= |prop dia ft= |prop dia in= |prop dia note= Performance
|max speed kmh=192 |cruise speed kmh= |cruise speed mph= |cruise speed kts= |cruise speed note= |stall speed kmh=90 |never exceed speed kmh= |never exceed speed mph= |never exceed speed kts= |never exceed speed note= |range km=850 |ferry range km= |ferry range miles= |ferry range nmi= |ferry range note= |endurance= |ceiling m=4200 |g limits= |roll rate= |climb rate ms= |climb rate ftmin= |climb rate note= |time to altitude=4000 m in 44 minutes |wing loading kg/m2=67.5 |fuel consumption kg/km= |fuel consumption lb/mi= |power/mass=0.0625 hp/lb |more performance=
References
References
- (1928). "Jane's all the World's Aircraft 1928". Sampson Low, Marston & company, ltd.
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