Georges Levy 40 HB2

Avation Maritime's distrust of triplane flying boats such as the Levy-Besson "Alerte" led the firm to design a version with the more traditional biplane wings, the Georges Levy 40 HB2. ("HB2" probably stood for Hydravion Bombardement with a crew of two.). With a 280hp Renault engine, the plane had good performance and it could carry larger bombs than other French flying boats. It entered service in November 1917. One hundred were ordered in France, and twelve were used by the US Navy. Though it was originally designed for two, a crew of three was frequently carried -- two in the communal cockpit and a third in the nose with a flexible Lewis machine gun.

It was also known as the Georges Levy 300hp Renault, the G.L.300, and the Levy-Le-Pen, and the Le Pen-Blanchard, after its designers.

By 1918 it had become the standard in flying boats for the French Navy. It was the first flying boat to carry the new anti-submarine bomb, a distinction it alone held for six months.