Aérospatiale Alouette II

"Alouette II" redirects here. For the Canadian satellite, see Alouette 2.
SA 313 / SA 318 Alouette II
A West German Alouette II helicopter patrolling the border with East Germany, 1985
Role Light helicopter
National origin France
Manufacturer Sud Aviation / Aérospatiale
First flight 12 March 1955
Introduction 2 May 1957
Status Limited Service
Primary users Tunisian Air Force
Royal Cambodian Air Force
Pakistan Army
Produced 1956-1975
Number built 1,300+
Variants Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama
Developed into Aérospatiale Alouette III

The Aérospatiale Alouette II (French pronunciation: ​[alwɛt], Lark) is a light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale, both of France. The Alouette II was the first production helicopter to use a gas turbine engine instead of the conventional heavier piston powerplant.

The Alouette II was mostly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air-sea rescue, liaison and training, but it has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. As a civilian helicopter it was used for casualty evacuation (with two external stretcher panniers), crop-spraying and as a flying crane (with a 500 kg external under-slung load).

Design and 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 260 hp (190 kW) single shaft turbine engine derived from his Orédon turbine. The X.310G design was chosen and, together with the Artouste engine, was fast-tracked towards production as the SE 3130 Alouette II.[1]

On 12 March 1955, the prototype SE 3130 performed its maiden flight;[2] within three months, on 6 June, a pre-production Alouette II flown by Jean Boulet set a new helicopter altitude record of 8,209 m (26,926 ft).[3][4][5] 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.[1]

In April 1956, the first production Aloutte II was completed, making it the first production turbine-powered helicopter in the world.[1] Upon completion, several of the initial production models were dispatched for a series of evaluation flights in the Alps.[1] On 13 June 1958, a single SE 3130, again flown by Boulet, re-took the record, reaching a height of 10,984 m (36,027 ft).[4][6][7] 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.[1]

Operational history

The Alouette II made the news on 3 July 1956 when it became the first helicopter to perform a mountain-rescue by evacuating a mountaineer who had suffered from cardiac arrest at over 4,000 m and again on 3 January 1957 the Alouette II was called upon to rescue the crew of a crashed Sikorsky S-58, which was searching for missing mountaineers Jean Vincendon and François Henry on Mont Blanc.[1]

The Alouette II was awarded a domestic certificate of airworthiness on 2 May 1957.

Production started initially to fulfil orders from the French military and civilian customers. It was the first helicopter worldwide to be equipped with anti-tank munitions (Nord SS.11s),[8] and by the time production ended in 1975, over 1,500 Alouette IIs had been built and in use in over 80 countries including 47 armed forces. It was produced under licence by Brazil, Sweden, India and in the United States. India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SA 315B Lamas, termed the "Cheetah", was regularly deployed at 7,500 meters (24,600 ft) to forward observation outposts and air bases of the Indian Air Force in the Himalayas.

Alouette SE.3130 II, formerly V-54 of the Swiss Air Force, now on the UK civil register as G-BVSD. It was built in 1964.

Variants

Operators

 Peru
 Tunisia

Former operators

 Austria
 Belgium
 Benin
 Cambodia
 Cameroon
 Central African Republic
 Republic of the Congo
 Djibouti
 Dominican Republic
French SE 313 Alouette II
 France
 Germany
An Aérospatiale SA 318 BW Alouette II of the German Army
 Guinea-Bissau
 Indonesia
 Israel
 Ivory Coast
 Katanga
 Khmer Republic
 Laos
 Lebanon
Alouette II of the Portuguese Air Force
 Madagascar
 Mexico
 Netherlands
 Portugal
 Rhodesia
 Senegal
 South Africa
British Army Air Corps Alouette
 Sweden
  Switzerland
 United Kingdom

Specifications (Alouette II)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1966–67[2]

General characteristics

each

Performance

See also

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Aérospatiale Alouette II.
Related development


Related lists

References

Citations

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 "1955: SE3130 "Alouette II"." Eurocopter, Retrieved: 20 December 2015.
  2. 1 2 Taylor 1966, p. 61.
  3. ↑ "FAI Record ID #9876 - Altitude without payload. Class E-1 (Helicopters), turbine" Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Retrieved: 21 September 2014.
  4. 1 2 "History of Rotorcraft World Records, Sub-class:E-1 (Helicopters), Category:General, Group 2:turbine". Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Retrieved 3 November 2010.
  5. ↑ Flight 8 July 1955, p. 54.
  6. ↑ "FAI Record ID #9874 - Altitude without payload. Class E-1 (Helicopters), turbine" Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI). Retrieved: 21 September 2014.
  7. ↑ Taylor 1966, p. 2.
  8. ↑ Helicopters at War - Blitz Editions, Page, 63, ISBN 1-85605-345-8
  9. ↑ "Business and Touring Aircraft: Sud-Aviation". Flight, 11 October 1957, p. 585.
  10. ↑ "Helicopters of the World:SE.3160 Alouette III". Flight, 15 May 1959, p. 684.
  11. 1 2 "World Air Forces 2013" (PDF). Flightglobal Insight. 2013. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  12. ↑ "Ӧstereichische Luftstreitkräfte SE3130 Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  13. ↑ "Aviation légère de la force terrestre Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  14. ↑ "Gendarmerie Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  15. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg. 328". Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  16. 1 2 3 "World Air Forces 1971 pg. 924-925". Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  17. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg.329". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  18. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg.330". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  19. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg. 332". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  20. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 50". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  21. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg. 333". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  22. ↑ "Armée de l'air Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  23. ↑ "Aviation légère de l'armée de Terre Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  24. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 56". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  25. ↑ "World Helicopter Market pg. 51". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  26. ↑ "L’HISTORIQUE DE LA SECURITE CIVILE". helisecours.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  27. ↑ "Securite Civil Sud-SA-318C". Demand Media. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  28. ↑ "Heeresflieger Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  29. ↑ "Bundespolizei Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  30. ↑ "World Air Forces 1975 pg. 298". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  31. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 59". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  32. 1 2 "World Air Forces 1981 pg. 347". Retrieved 2013-03-14.
  33. ↑ "World Air Forces 1975 pg. 302". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  34. ↑ "World Air Forces 1981 pg. 351". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  35. ↑ "Congo, Part 1; 1960-1963". ACIG. 2003. Retrieved 2013-08-09.
  36. ↑ "World Air Forces 1971 pg. 932". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  37. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 68". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  38. ↑ "World Air Forces 1975 pg. 305". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  39. ↑ "World Air Forces 1975 pg. 305". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 2 February 2014.
  40. ↑ "Koninklijke Luchtmacht SA 313". Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  41. 1 2 "Força Aérea Portuguesa Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  42. ↑ Nelson, Harold. Zimbabwe: A Country Study. pp. 237–317.
  43. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 81". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  44. ↑ "Suid-Afrikaanse Lugmag Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  45. ↑ "World Air Forces 1987 pg. 91". flightglobal.com. Retrieved 14 March 2013.
  46. ↑ "Schweizer luftwaffe Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.
  47. ↑ "Army Air Corps Alouette II". Retrieved 12 March 2013.

Bibliography

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