Arsenal VG - 33 The Arsenal VG - 33 was one of a series of fast French light fighter aircraft under development at the start of WWII , but which matured too late to see extensive service in the Armée de l ' Air during the Battle of France . Development . The original specification that led to the VG series was offered in 1936 in order to quickly raise the number of modern aircraft in French service , by supplying a " light fighter " of wooden construction that could be built rapidly in large numbers . The contract resulted in three designs , the VG - 30 , the Caudron C . 714 and the Bloch MB - 700 . Prototypes of all three were ordered . Named for engineer Vernisse ( V ) and designer Jean Gaultier ( G ) , the VG - 30 was all wooden in construction , using plywood over stringers in a semi - monocoque construction . The layout was conventional , a low - wing monoplane that bore a striking resemblance to the later Italian Macchi C . 202 . Armament consisted of a 20 mm Hispano - Suiza HS . 404 cannon firing through the propeller hub , and four 7 . 5 mm MAC 1934 M39 drum - fed machine guns , two in each wing . The design was supposed to be powered by the Potez 12Dc flat - 12 air - cooled inline engine , but this ran into development problems . The prototype was then fitted with a Hispano - Suiza 12X crs instead , and flew in this form in October 1938 . In order to find some solution to the engine problem , the VG - 31 was to use the 632 kW ( 860 hp ) Hispano - Suiza 12Y - 31 and the VG - 32 the Allison V - 1710 C - 15 . The VG - 31 flew in 1939 and proved to have excellent performance . The prototype VG - 32 was completed in 1940 and awaiting its test flight when it was captured by the advancing German forces at Villacoublay . The VG - 33 was a modified version of the VG - 31 using the same 12Y - 31 , and first flew on April 25 , 1939 . It had surprisingly good performance of 560 km / h , and was ordered into production with a contract for 220 aircraft in September , later raised to 1 , 000 . Production didn ' t take long to start , but most of the airframes never received engines and sat at the factory when it fell to the Germans . Further developments continued while the VG - 33 production started . The VG - 34 mounted the newer 688 kW ( 935 hp ) 12Y - 45 , the VG - 36 used the 735 kW ( 1 , 000 hp ) 12Y - 51 originally intended for the VG - 35 , and introduced a new streamlined radiator bath that looked similar to the one on the P - 51 Mustang . Single prototypes of all three were built and flown in early 1940 . The VG - 37 was an extended - range version of the - 36 , while the VG - 38 was to have used the 12Y - 77 , but neither was built . The last in the series was the VG - 39 , originally powered by the new 882 kW ( 1 , 200 hp ) 12Y - 89 using an extension shaft on the propeller to streamline the nose profile , giving the plane an excellent speed of 625 km / h ( 388 mph ) even when loaded down with two more machine guns . The actual production version was to have been the VG - 39bis , powered by the new 1177 kW ( 1 , 600 hp ) Hispano - Suiza 12Z - 17 , using the streamlined radiator intake design from the VG - 36 . Two more designs were projected , both based on the VG - 39bis airframe . The VG - 40 mounted the Rolls - Royce Merlin III and the VG - 50 the newer Allison V - 1710 - 39 . Neither was built . Operational history . Somewhat underarmed compared to the Messerschmitt Bf 109 , the VG - 33 matched it in speed and manoeuvrability and was somewhat faster than the Dewoitine D . 520 . In larger quantities , this plane could have shown the Luftwaffe a rough time , but as was the case for most French planes , production problems plagued the VG - 33 such that only 160 aircraft were close to completion before the Armistice , with just 19 of 40 produced ( ? ) actually taken on by the Armée de l ' Air . Just two machines ever flew in an active group , the piecemeal GC 1 / 55 which began life on June 18 and conducted missions for just a week . After the fall of France twelve VG - 33s were confiscated by the Luftwaffe , perhaps for fighter training .