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thumb|Sud Aviation SE.3130 Alouette II<br />ZU-ALO; Private operator in [[South Africa]]

thumb|right|SA 318C Alouette II Astazou at the [[Borderland Museum Eichsfeld in Central Germany.]]

The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, "lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine engine instead of the heavier conventional piston powerplant.

On 12 March 1955, the prototype SE 3130 performed its maiden flight. The Alouette II was a widely used type and popular with operators, with over 1,300 rotorcraft eventually being constructed between 1956 and 1975. The type was predominantly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air-sea rescue, liaison and training. It has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. In civilian roles, the Alouette II has been used for medical evacuation (with two external stretcher panniers), crop-spraying, and as a flying crane—with a external underslung load.

A high-altitude derivative, the SA 315B Lama, was developed and entered operational service in July 1971. The Alouette II also was further developed into the larger and more powerful Alouette III. In 1975, production of the type was terminated, having been effectively succeeded by these newer rotorcraft. Despite it being long out of production, considerable numbers of Alouette II were still in service at the start of the 21st century.

Development

Although Sud-Est's previous helicopter design, the SE 3120 Alouette, broke helicopter speed and distance records in July 1953, it was too complex an aircraft to market successfully. With the records falling, the French government started showing interest, but with their financial backing, the state gave an ultimatum that within two years a helicopter had to be in production, otherwise all rotary wing activities would cease. SNCASE came up with seven helicopter designs powered by turboshaft engines: X.310A – X.310G. Earlier Joseph Szydlowski, the founder of Turbomeca, had successfully managed to develop the Artouste, a single shaft turbine engine derived from his Orédon turbine. The X.310G design was chosen and, together with an improved version of the Artouste engine, was fast-tracked towards production as the SE 3130 Alouette II. within three months, on 6 June, a pre-production Alouette II, flown by Jean Boulet, established a new helicopter altitude record of . According to the manufacturer, such early demonstrations of the Alouette II had served to promote the performance and advantages of turbine helicopters over their piston-engined counterparts. In 1964, a new version of the Alouette II was introduced, the SA 3180 Alouette II Astazou (originally called "Alouette Astazou"), using the Turbomeca Astazou IIA engine in place of the Artouste II. In 1975, production of the Alouette II ended after more than 1,300 had been built; in 1969, a new high-altitude variant, the Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama had been developed to replace it in this niche capacity.

Design

The Aérospatiale Alouette II is a French light helicopter, incorporating many innovations of its time. In addition to anti-tank missiles, the French Army chose to arm their Alouette IIs with machine guns, while the French Navy outfitted theirs with aerial torpedoes to conduct anti-submarine warfare (ASW) duties. It required a high level of regular lubrication, the main rotorhead alone featuring 20 grease nipples that had to be re-lubricated after every five flight hours, while the drive shaft for the tail rotor was similarly demanding. Due to its high susceptibility to dust ingestion, some operators would have to remove the Alouette's rectangular sand filters after every landing in order to clean them. Shortly thereafter, large-scale orders for the type were received from several foreign nations, including the United Kingdom, Federal Republic of Germany, and Austria.

Almost immediately upon entering service, French forces commenced active combat operations using their fledgling Alouette II fleet; the type being placed into heavy use in the Algerian War, during which it made valuable contributions to France's activities in the theatre. Early operations were flown with an emphasis on its use by the Army and British South Africa Police, including paramilitary and aerial reconnaissance operations. Throughout the 1960s, the type progressively spread into additional roles, including aerial supply, casualty evacuation, communications relays, and troop-transports. Rhodesian aerial operations would typically involve flying under relatively high and hot conditions, which reduced the efficiency of aircraft in general; however, the Alouette II proved to be both hardy and relatively resistant to battle damage. In order to extend the inadequate range of the type, fuel caches were strategically deployed across the country to be used for refuelling purposes. Over time, the Rhodesian Security Forces developed an innovative deployment tactic of rapidly encircling and enveloping enemies, known as the Fireforce, for which the Alouette II served as a core component.

By 1975, at which point production of the type was terminated, in excess of 1,300 Alouette IIs had been constructed. The rotorcraft was also in use in over 80 countries, including 47 separate armed forces. The Alouette II was produced and sold under licence by Brazil, Sweden, India and in the United States.

During July 2018, a single Alouette II was involved in the helicopter prison escape of the French gangster Rédoine Faïd. The rotorcraft, which had been hijacked by gang members who held the pilot hostage at gunpoint, flew into the courtyard of Réau prison, before flying to Roissy in the north-eastern suburbs of Paris; the event allegedly occurred in under ten minutes from take-off to escape.

Variants

  • SE 3130 Alouette II – Initial version powered by Turbomeca Artouste II series engine rated at for takeoff, with maximum weight of .
  • SE 313B Alouette II – Version of SE 3130 powered by Turbomeca Artouste IIC5 or IIC6 engine rated at for takeoff, with maximum weight raised to . which was abandoned in favour of the Alouette III.
  • SE 3140 Alouette II – Proposed version, it was going to be powered by a 298&nbsp;kW (400&nbsp;hp) Turbomeca Turmo II engine. None were built.
  • HKP 2 Alouette II – Swedish licence version of the SE 3130
  • SA 3180 Alouette II Astazou – Version powered by Turbomeca Astazou IIA or IIA2 engine rated at for takeoff and continuous, but restricted to by rotor transmission limitations, with maximum weight of .
  • SA 318B Alouette II Astazou – Version of SA 3180 with maximum weight raised to . turboshaft.

Operators

;

  • Tunisian Air Force

;

  • General Directorate of Security

Former operators

;

  • Austrian Air Force

;

  • Biafran armed forces

;

  • Belgian Army
  • Gendarmerie

;

  • Military of Benin

;

  • Brazilian Air Force

;

  • Royal Cambodian Air Force

;

  • Central African Republic Air Force

;

  • Congolese Air Force

;

  • Djibouti Air Force

;:

  • Dominican Air Force

;

  • French Air Force
  • French Army
  • French Navy
  • Gendarmerie Nationale
  • Securite Civile

thumb|right|An Aérospatiale SE 3130 Alouette II of the German Army

;

  • German Army
  • German Federal Police
  • German Air Force

;

  • Guinea-Bissau Air Force

;

  • Indonesian Army
  • Indonesian Navy

;

  • Ivory Coast Air Force

;

  • Katangese Air Force

;

  • Khmer Air Force

;

  • Lebanese Air Force

;:

  • Malagasy Air Force

;

  • Mexican Navy

;

  • Netherlands Air Force

;:

  • Peruvian Army

thumb|Portuguese Air Force Alouette II in 1996

;:

  • Portuguese Air Force
  • National Republican Guard

;

  • Romanian Air Force

;

  • Senegalese Air Force

thumb|British Army Air Corps Alouette II

;

  • South African Air Force

;

  • Spanish National Police

thumb|Swedish Alouette IIs in 1963

;

  • Swedish Air Force
  • Swedish Army

;

  • Swiss Air Force

;

  • Gendarmerie General Command
  • Turkish Air Force

;

  • Army Air Corps

;

  • Federal Border Guard

;

  • Air Force of Zimbabwe

Specifications (SE 313B Alouette II)

upright|300px|Orthographically projected diagram of the Aérospatiale Alouette II

thumb|Closeup of an ex-West German SA 318C Alouette II Astazou's exposed [[Turbomeca Astazou IIA turboshaft engine]]

See also

References

Citations

Bibliography