thumb|Sud Aviation SE.3130 [[Alouette II ZU-ALO in South Africa]]

Société nationale de constructions aéronautiques Sud Aviation (; ) was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating in the merger of SNCASE and SNCASO on 1 March 1957. Both companies had been formed from smaller privately owned corporations that had been nationalized into six regional design and manufacturing pools just prior to the Second World War.

The company became a major manufacturer of helicopters, designing and producing several types which went on to be built in large numbers, including the Alouette II (the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine engine; first flight in 1955), the Puma (1965) and the Gazelle (1967). In 1967, an agreement between France and the United Kingdom arranged for joint production and procurement of the Puma and Gazelle, together with the British-manufactured Westland Lynx. Sud Aviation also developed the Caravelle, the first jet-powered passenger airliners for the short-medium range market.

In 1970, Sud Aviation merged with both Nord Aviation and the Société d'étude et de réalisation d'engins balistiques (SEREB) to form Aérospatiale.

History

Sud Aviation became an early innovator in the field of commercial jetliners. Almost two years prior to its formation, on 27 May 1955, the first prototype of the Sud Aviation Caravelle had conducted its maiden flight. The Caravelle's favourable early sales record was attributed to it having effectively no jet-powered rivals, being the only short-haul jetliner for several years following its introduction. The final assembly line for the Caravelle was at Sud Aviation's factory at Blagnac Airport near Toulouse. Parts of the aircraft were also manufactured at other sites across France and in other countries. Production ceased after 282 Caravelles of all types had been manufactured, including 2 prototypes or pre-production aircraft and 280 production aircraft. Sud Aviation's break-even point had been forecast to be around the 200-unit mark.

Despite its commercial success, the Caravelle was not the focus of Sud Aviation's development efforts during the early 1960s as the majority of the company's design engineers were reallocated onto a successor for the Caravelle. The consortium received non-binding options for over 100 of the long-range version from the major airlines of the day, and Pan Am, BOAC, and Air France were to be the launch customers, with six Concordes each. Other airlines in the order book included Panair do Brasil, Continental Airlines, Japan Airlines, Lufthansa, American Airlines, United Airlines, Air India, Air Canada, Braniff, Singapore Airlines, Iran Air, Olympic Airways, Qantas, CAAC Airlines, Middle East Airlines, and TWA. Concorde sold very poorly due to several factors. Costs spiralled to more than six times the original projections, arriving at a unit cost of £23 million in 1977 (equivalent to £ million in ). Its sonic boom also made supersonic travel over land unrealistic. World events, such as the 1973–74 stock market crash and the 1973 oil crisis, had made airlines cautious about aircraft with high fuel consumption rates; and new wide-body aircraft, such as the Boeing 747, had made subsonic aircraft more efficient, presenting a low-risk option for airlines. Only Air France and British Airways (the successor company to BOAC) ultimately took up their orders for Concorde.

In the early 1960s, Sud Aviation entered the general aviation light aircraft market when it introduced the GY-80 Horizon, designed by Yves Gardan. The first GY-80 prototype flew on 21 July 1960 and 267 of the type were eventually built.

The Super Frelon was developed by Sud Aviation from the original SE.3200 Frelon. During the type's development, Sud Aviation had risen to prominence as a major helicopter manufacturer, having exported more rotorcraft than any other European rival.

On 23 July 1963, a modified prototype Super Frelon helicopter was used to break the FAI absolute helicopter world speed record, having attained a maximum speed of during the flight. Flown by Jean Boulet and Roland Coffignot, a total of three international records were broken, these being: speed over 3 km at low altitude,

212.03 mph; speed at any altitude over 15 and 25 km, 217.77 mph; and 100 km closed circuit 207.71 mph. By July 1964, the French Government had placed an initial order for the Super Frelon, intended to perform logistic support duties at the Centre Experimental du Pacifique; negotiations for a further order was already being negotiated for the naval version, which were to be equipped for anti-submarine duties. However, West German support for the Super Frelon programme had already declined by this point, partially due to interest in the rival Sikorsky SH-3 Sea King, which was evaluated against the type. The first of two Puma prototypes flew on 15 April 1965; deliveries to the French Army commenced in early 1969. The Puma was an instant success on the export market, numerous countries purchased military variants to serve in their armed forces; the type was also popularly received in the civil market, finding common usage by operators for transport duties to off-shore oil platforms. Throughout most of the 1970s, the SA 330 Puma was the best selling transport helicopter being produced in Europe. By July 1978, over 50 Pumas had already been delivered to civil customers, and the worldwide fleet had accumulated in excess of 500,000 operational hours.

Numerous nations struck deals of manufacture the Puma overseas. Romania produced it under license as the IAR 330, manufacturing at least 163 of the type for the Romanian armed forces, civil operators, and several export customers. Indonesia also undertook domestic manufacturing of the Puma. South Africa became a prolific Puma operator as well, performed their own major modification and production program conducted by the government-owned Atlas Aircraft Corporation to upgrade their own Pumas; the resulting rotorcraft was named the Oryx. The first prototype Gazelle made its maiden flight on 7 April 1967, it initially flying with a conventional tail rotor. However, this was replaced with the distinctive fenestron tail in early 1968 on the second prototype. Four Gazelle prototypes were flown, including one for British firm Westland Helicopters. On 13 May 1967, a Gazelle demonstrated its speed capabilities when two separate world speed records were broken on a closed course, achieving speeds of 307 km/h over 3 kilometres and 292 km/h over 100 kilometres. Early on, the Gazelle had attracted British interest, which would culminate in the issuing of a major joint development and production work share agreement between Aerospatiale and Westland. The deal, signed in February 1967, facilitated the licensed production in Britain of 292 Gazelles and 48 Pumas for the British armed forces; additionally, Westland received a 65% work share in the manufacturing of the Gazelle, becoming a joint partner for further refinements and upgrades of the type. While principally sold to military operators, a number of Gazelles for the civil market were also sold.

As part of the Anglo-French helicopter agreement signed in February 1967, Sud Aviation gained a 30 per cent share of production work in the Westland Lynx while Westland Helicopters performed the remainder of the work share. It was intended that France would procure the Lynx for its navy, along with a heavily modified armed reconnaissance variant for the French Army. However, in October 1969, the French Army cancelled its requirement for the Lynx, thus development of the specialised army variant was terminated at an early stage.

Products

Fixed-wing

  • Caravelle
  • GY-80 Horizon
  • Super-Caravelle
  • Vautour
  • Voltigeur
  • Concorde (in partnership with the British Aircraft Corporation)

Helicopters

  • Alouette II
  • Alouette III
  • Super Frelon
  • Puma
  • Gazelle
  • Lynx (in partnership with Westland Helicopters)

References

Citations

Bibliography

  • Field, Hugh. "Anglo-French rotary collaboration goes civil." Flight International, 8 February 1973. pp. 193–194.
  • Gibbings, David. "The Evolution of the British Rotorcraft Industry." The Journal of Aeronautical History, September 2009. No. 2012/07. pp. 112–146.
  • Green, William. The illustrated encyclopedia of the world's commercial aircraft. Crescent Books, 1978. .
  • James, Derek N. Westland Aircraft since 1915. London: Putnam, 1991, .
  • McGowen, Stanley S. Helicopters: An Illustrated History of Their Impact. ABC-CLIO, 2005. .
  • Stevens, James Hay. "Super Frelon: Western Europe's Most Powerful Helicopter". Flight International, 9 July 1964. pp. 55–59.
  • Taylor, J.W.R. Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1976–77. London:Macdonald and Jane's, 1976. .
  • Sud Aviation page on AviaFrance.
  • SUD AVIATION AND AÉROSPATIALE on US Centennial of Flight