While the Amiot 140, 143 and 143M production standard aircraft were powered by versions of the Gnome-Rhone 14K Mistral Major, various versions were proposed with alternative power plants. Principal among these was the Hispano-Suiza-engined 142, which used the Supercharged, liquid-cooled 12-cylinder Hispano-Suiza 12Y.
Originally envisaged with a crew of four, the 143M had a fifth crew member for the night-bomber role. The navigator/bombardier and radio operator were situated in the ventral gondola.
The 143 military models had an all-metal fuselage. The thick-section wing comprised five sections built up on three Duralumin tube girder spars with tube girder ribs. Duralumin sheet was riveted to this to form the skin. The outermost wing sections contained six fuel tanks (from the 41st aircraft) with a total capacity of 2719 liters (718 gal.). In earlier aircraft, fuel tanks were jettisonable.
The rectangular-section fuselage was made up of open-sectioned former with fore and aft stringers covered with Duralumin sheet.
Bomb load capacity was limited to 800 kg (1,760 lb.) internally, in varying combinations from four 200-kg. (440 lb.) to 64 12.5-kg. (27.5-lb.) bombs. A further 800 kg. (1,760 lb.) could be carried on external outer wing racks.
Although lightly armed by the standards of World War II, the 143 had a defensive armament which was arranged to protect the aircraft from attack from every direction. Apart from nose and dorsal turrets and a flexible ventral mounting, 143s often carried a fourth 7.5-mm (0.3-in.) MAC 1934 machine-gun which fired through the floor of the forward fuselage.
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