If the French can actually produce the G&R 14R - install those on the Fw 190, Ju-88, He-111, Ju-87, Bf 110, perhaps even on the Bf 109. The 14R weighted twice as much as 14M, so IMO the installation on the Potez 630 or Breguet 693 series woudl've been quite a stretch.
The 14N was considerably lighter than the 14R, thus less of a stretch. OTOH - a 14N-powered Ju 87 and/or Bf 110 looks as a better application of that engine IMO.
German (or anybody elses's) use of the aircraft that is much slower and with far less armament capacity than Bf 110 is a false economy. Form 1940 on, Germans need an aircraft that will use two crew members and two engines in order to carry 2000-4000 kg worth of armament (guns + ammo + bombs/rockets), not the aircraft that can carry 500 kg worth of armament while also using two engines and two crew members.
The 'dirt cheap' qualifier for the Potez does not take into account that trained crew and fuel is not dirt cheap, the force of any given number of Potez 630 bombers will use more crew and fuel in order to plaster the Soviets with a given bomb load than the force of Ju 87 bombers delivering the same bomb load, while also being bigger a drain for maintenance due to greater number of engines used.
Want more of French gear to be used? Cram the 25mm AA guns on the Ju 87, Bf 110 or Hs 129.
BTW - what is a low-threat enviroement for a 520-550 km/h Bf 110 was not for the 420-460 km/h Potez.
Whoa there you cannot simply drop a French engine into a German aircraft without a power egg configuration. Putting a radial in a Ju87 is not possible without a major redesign and production line shift. Even putting the G-R 14R into the FW190 would require a major redesign. Hitting it to say the He-111 and Ju88 might be doable though. Its not too much for the Bf110, which means the Potez 630/670 could take it, but the Breguet would have to stick to the 14N. But you can't stick a 14N in a Ju87 and the Bf110 already had a superior engine to the 14N. The entire point of using the 14M or N in a French aircraft is to make the best use of a weak engine, leave the German designs with their more powerful German engines (other than perhaps the 14R).
The pilots would be the tougher part, but you could you pilots with an abbreviated training cycle that are relatively poor pilots for the ground attack role; later on the Germans were using far less well trained pilots for Schlachtgeschwader and still having good success even using them in the advanced Fw190F.
You're missing the point about using limited payloads with the smaller French aircraft like the Bre 693, it's not the size of the load, its the ability to put it on target with CAS. The fucking Hs129 carried half the load at lower speed and range with the same engines! When recommending their use I'm saying their a better option than the historical use for the engines with the HS129. A rear gunner is easy to train, the pilot too is not that hard for a low flying aircraft with as forgiving of flight characteristics as the Bre 693. Especially if it can fly low and maneuverable and at a better speed than the Stuka it will be even more surviveable. Given that there was a hard upper limit on how many Ju87s there were available in 1941, then having any extra aircraft is already a bonus, especially if you didn't have to make the engines or aircraft because they were captured in 1940 or made on French lines prior to Barbarossa. The only cost would be the pilot and ground crew, but for say 40-100 addition CAS aircraft in June 1941 that's not a hard ask, especially if it went to AG-North that lacked any ground support allotment except when detached for specific operations. Are you seriously going to tell me that it wouldn't have been valuable to have 40 Bre 693s flying in support of 4th Panzer Group in June 1941 at Raseiniai where the Panzers had NO air support at all once the battle was underway for 4 days? There weren't any Bf110s or Ju87s available as they were all detailed to AG-Center and -South. There were no Hs129s until a few were available in May 1942 and then they had major problems due to lack of engine filters. Better to have the much more effective Bre 693 in 1941 and figure out issues like air filters then, plus render some additional air support beyond what was available IOTL.
And the low threat environment they'd deal with in 1941-42 would be the same one the Ju87 and Hs129 (in 1942) had to deal with and survive, which they did.
We might as well decide whether extra amor is needed or not for the German ground-attack aircraft, and stick to the decision. And as above - what is a healthy envoroement for one type of aircraft might not be for another type. Ju 87 was able to survive with fighter escort in the East, the Bf 110 was less dependent on it.
Except there weren't any more Ju87s available to use where needed because production was limited and there were no HS129s until 1942. So better to have Bre 693s or Potez 670s in 1941-42 in larger numbers and phase them out later for more capable aircraft. The Ju87 didn't really even need fighter support in 1941 due to the skies being mostly swept of VVS, while in 1942 in the primary battle zones they were again free to act as they pleased; things only got hairy with Soviet fighters in 1943 when 75% of the Luftwaffe SE fighters were needed in the West and nearly all double engine fighters were removed too. But then that is the time for the G-R 14N or R Potez 670 heavy fighters to shine for ground support or fighter-bomber missions.
Produce the darned Bf 109 - simple, cheap, performer.
The HS-12X was a fine engine in 1930, a dog by 1938-ish. Both 12X and 12Y were as big as DB 601. Complex DB 605 produces a 600-650 km/h fighter, the Hs 12Y can't compete. For 1941 and above it is hopeless above 5 km. Italians alredy have the I-F Asso XI for 900 HP V12 if they want it, and that is for 1937.
(edited to correct some mistakes)
It was not good for ground attack because of it's liquid cooled engine, so the Germans dumped them for fighter-bombing as soon as something better was available; apparently too the undercarriage did not handle the bomb load well either and led to a LOT of accidents. In terms of as a pure fighter...well there were only so many DB 601/605 engines to go around and the Germans didn't have enough of their own, while reengining them for the lower powered French engines takes time and delays introduction for a lower performing aircraft. Might as well have a lighter fighter designed around the engine in the first place. In the East in 1942 and beyond fighting stayed below 5km for the most part and with the quality of pilots that the Axis minor powers had, which was surprisingly good, they could do well with the French fighters. Give it to the Slovaks, Romanians, and Hungarians.
9422 in 1941. Plus trainers and civilain aircraft, that gives 12401 for 1941 grand total.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/German_aircraft_production_during_World_War_II
UK and USSR combined produced about 3 times as much in same year. To make things worse for Germany, UK and, from mid-1941, the USSR were able to buy aircraft in the USA, while Germany was to equip other Axis air forces. Even Italy, with 13400 aircraft produced in all of ww2, was buying aircraft (Bf 109, Ju 87, Do 217) in Germany. Thus any hundred, let alone thousand of aircraft that can be shipped from France is sorely needed.
Other problem Germany has was low output of DB 601 engines in 1940/41 - circa 500 monthly. This is where the French engines might come in handy, even if they are installed on the Bf 110 thus leaving the DB 601 to be installed on the 1-engined fighters only.
Soviet production didn't do the Soviets any good in 1941-42, they lost as many aircraft to accidents as combat (more actually in 1941 to accidents), which indicates that not only were Soviet pilots pretty bad and unprepared for the new aircraft, but also that a lot of the new aircraft were lower production quality and failed in flight. For T-34s that breakdown, as many did even as late as 1944 due to production quality, that's not a problem, repair them with new parts and move on; doesn't work so well for an aircraft that breaks down in flight or upon landing/take off.
Agreed that nearly any additional combat aircraft would be helpful to Axis powers. The only issue is converting German air frames to foreign engines, which would be a problem. Plus the Bf110 had serious problems with being underpowered, so taking even lower powered French engines means its and even less maneuverable dog than it was in 1940. If they can get developed G-R 14R engines that would be a different story even if they needed 92 or 100 octane fuel...but the issue I gather is the engines weren't ready for production in 1941:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SNECMA_14R
The improved
14R was initially known as the
Gnome-Rhône 14R. With the Fall of France, engine development was stopped under the occupation. After the war, development recommenced; however production of this engine after 1945 was transferred to the newly formed
Snecma and the engine was renamed the:
SNECMA 14R.
Yes, the VLR MP aircraft are/were force multipliers.
Agreed.