The Latécoère 490 was a two-seat, single-engined parasol winged aircraft, designed to a French photographic reconnaissance specification of 1928.

The French specification R.2 of 1928 called for a two-seat reconnaissance aircraft, fast and with a rapid climb rate and large radius of action.

It led to prototypes from eight manufacturers, the Amiot 130, Breguet 33, Latécoère 490, Les Mureaux 111, Nieuport-Delage Ni-D 580, Potez 37, Wibault 260 and the Weymann WEL-80 R.2.

The water-cooled V-12, 650 hp Hispano-Suiza 12 Nb reached aft almost to the wing leading edge, and behind it the depth of the fuselage decreased only slightly to the tail.

The vertical and oblique cameras were immediately behind the pilot and just in front of the observer, who had a radio station at his rear.

In its initial configuration the fin was longer in chord than high, carrying a nearly semicircular rudder that extended down through a cut out in the elevators to the base of the fuselage.

In October the 490 crashed on take off due to fuel starvation, though it was not badly damaged, and Latécoère took the opportunity to increase the fin area during the repairs.

[1] No more aircraft of the 490 series were built; the number 492 was a proposed, unbuilt version with a glazed gunner's enclosure.