D.500

D.500

D.501

D.500

D.501

France

I Rank

Battle rating:

AB	RB	SB
1.0	1.0	1.0

Class:

Fighter

Research:Free

Purchase:Free

Show in game

Description

The D.500 is a Rank I French fighter with a battle rating of 1.0 (AB/RB/SB). It was introduced in Update 1.73 "Vive la France".

The D.500 is an all metal mono-wing aircraft with an open cockpit and fixed landing gear which was built in the mid 1930’s and was France’s fighter aircraft until it was replaced by Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 aircraft in 1939. When playing SB (or AB and RB in cockpit view) this aircraft offers excellent visibility only really limiting visibility where the wings are at. This aircraft has 1,200 rounds of ammunition between four machine guns and can really do some damage when gun convergence is set between 250 and 350 meters.

General info

Flight Performance

Characteristics
Stock
Max Speed (km/h at 5,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
?	?	9,000	??.?	??.?	??.?	??.?	150
Upgraded
Max Speed (km/h at 5,000 m)		Max altitude (meters)	Turn time (seconds)		Rate of climb (meters/second)		Take-off run (meters)
AB	RB		AB	RB	AB	RB
378	366	9,000	14.4	15.0	14.7	12.5	150

Details

Features
Combat flap	Take-off flap	Landing flap	Air brakes	Arrestor gear
X	X	X	X	X

Limits
Wing-break speed (km/h)	Gear limit (km/h)	Combat flap (km/h)	Max Static G
			+	-
???	???	???	~??	~?

Optimal velocities
Ailerons (km/h)	Rudder (km/h)	Elevators (km/h)	Radiator (km/h)
< ???	< ???	< ???	> ???

Compressor (RB/SB)
Setting 1
Optimal altitude	100% Engine power	WEP Engine power
?,??? m	??? hp	?,??? hp

Survivability and armour

• 3 mm Steel plate behind engine.
• 3 mm Steel plate on pilot's seat.

Armaments

Offensive armament

The D.500 is armed with:

• 2 x 7.5 mm Darne 1933 machine guns (300 rpg = 600 total)
• 2 x 7.5 mm MAC 1934 machine guns (300 rpg = 600 total)

The four machine guns are arranged with the two Darne 1933 guns mounted in the nose and the two MAC 1934 guns mounted under on the underside of the wing. Each are armed with the same amount of ammunition, which means that all guns will fire with each other until empty.

Usage in the battles

The D.500 is a good beginning aircraft for pilots in the French tech tree is the only tech tree which offers a non-biplane as a reserve aircraft. This aircraft is a good aircraft for in-close fighting. Bringing in the gun convergence between 250 and 350 meters and then targeting an aircraft within that range or closer will allow for all four guns to do their damage along with potentially setting alight the enemy aircraft. This aircraft can switch between attacking aircraft and ground vehicles with no problems as it is still fairly manouverable at lower speeds and altitudes. Long continued bursts from the guns can lead to gun jams, but short controlled bursts should allow you to avoid that. In AB, relative short ammo reload rate (~10 seconds) will have you back in action fairly quickly.

Manual Engine Control

MEC elements
Mixer	Pitch	Radiator			Supercharger	Turbocharger
		Oil	Water	Type
Not controllable	Controllable Automatic pitch	Controllable	Not controllable	Combined	Controllable	Not controllable

Modules

Tier	Flight performance		Survivability	Weaponry
I	Fuselage Repair	Radiator		Offensive 7 mm
II		Compressor	Airframe
III	Wings Repair	Engine		New 7 mm MGs
IV			Cover

Pros and cons

Pros:

• Very maneuverable.
• Speed is adequate.
• Guns are powerful at the rank.
• Short gun convergence (250-350m) chews up aircraft at short ranges.

Cons:

• Low speed limit.
• While not the fastest, usually not an issue.
• No flaps and gear permanently extended.
• Open cockpit means enemy rounds can potentially snipe the pilot.

History

Describe the history of the creation and combat usage of the aircraft in more detail than in the introduction. If the historical reference turns out to be too big, take it to a separate article, taking a link to an article about the vehicle and adding a block "/ historical reference" (example: https://wiki.warthunder.com/Name-vehicles/historical reference) and add a link to it here using the main template. Be sure to include links to sources at the end of the article.

Media

An excellent addition to the article will be video guides, as well as screenshots from the game and photos.

Read also

Links to the articles on the War Thunder Wiki that you think will be useful for the reader, for example,

• reference to the series of the aircraft;
• links to approximate analogues of other nations and research trees.

ETC.

Sources

Paste links to sources and external resources, such as:

• topic on the official game forum;
• page on aircraft encyclopedia;
• other literature.