Was the Amiot 140 chosen for being the ugliest?

Short answer

Not for being ugly: the Amiot 140M was an undeniably ugly aircraft, with a rectangular fuselage, a thick wing and a glazed gondola beneath the structure, but it delivered the performance the Armée de l'Air required. It answered a 1928 specification for a four-seat, multi-purpose, all-metal twin-engined monoplane.

Published: November 1, 2026 · Updated: November 1, 2026 · Edited by Above Ten Thousand · Editorial policy

Was the Amiot 140 chosen for being the ugliest?

Caudron G 4

A competition, four prototypes

The Amiot 140 originated from a 1928 French Air Ministry specification calling for a four-seat, multi-purpose, all-metal twin-engined monoplane. Four companies were contracted to build a prototype, among them the Société d'Emboutissage et de Construction Mécanique (SECM), run by Félix Amiot. Although the aircraft ended up bearing the Amiot name, it was designed by a team led by André Dutartre.

Ugly, but with the required performance

The 140M was an undeniably ugly aircraft, with a rectangular fuselage, a large thick wing, a clumsy nose and a large glazed gondola beneath the structure; even so, it achieved the performance the Armée de l'Air required. It first flew on 12 April 1931 and passed the trials of the CEMA, the air matériel study centre at Villacoublay. It took part in night exercises in July 1933, and on 23 November the Armée de l'Air placed an order for 40 aircraft.

From the 140 to the 143M

Two re-engined prototypes were built, the Amiot 142 and the Amiot 143, and it was the second, with air-cooled radial engines, that entered service as the Amiot 143M. The 143 kept the high wing and fixed landing gear of the 140, as well as a wing thick enough for the crew to reach the engines through a tunnel between the spars. Deliveries began in April 1935 and continued until March 1937, with 138 built.