Caudron C.440 Goéland

C.440 Goéland
Caudron C.449 Goeland trainer of Air France at Pontoise-Cormeilles airfield near Paris in May 1957
Role Civil utility aircraft
Manufacturer Caudron
Designer Marcel Riffard
First flight 1934
Number built 1,702

The Caudron C.440 Goéland ("seagull") was a six-seat twin-engine utility aircraft developed in France in the mid-1930s.

Design and development

It was a conventionally configured low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage. The main undercarriage units retracted into the engine nacelles. Construction was wooden throughout, with wooden skinning everywhere but the forward and upper fuselage sections, which were skinned in metal. As usually configured, the cabin seated six passengers with baggage compartments fore and aft, and a toilet aft.

Operation history

Caudron C.447 Goeland air ambulance of the Armée de l'Air in 1947

Apart from private buyers, the C.440 was also bought by the Armée de l'Air, Aéronavale, Aéromaritime, Régie Air Afrique and Air France, and some were exported for service with Aeroput. Production of the C.440 and its subtypes continued until the outbreak of World War II, at which time many C.440s were impressed into military service. Following the fall of France, some were operated by the German Luftwaffe and Deutsche Luft Hansa. Another user was the Slovenské vzdušné zbrane - it ordered 12 aircraft as the C.445M in 1942.

Production was restarted following the war for both military and civil use as a transport and as a twin-engined trainer. In the postwar reorganisation of the French aircraft industry, Caudron became part of SNCA du Nord, and the aircraft became the Nord Goeland; 325 of these were built.[1] Postwar commercial operators included Air France, SABENA, Aigle Azur, and Compagnie Air Transport (CAT).

Variants

Operators

 Belgium
 Bulgaria
 France
 Germany
 Yugoslavia
 Slovakia
 Spain

Specifications (C.445M)

Nord C.449-1 Goeland

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Related lists

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Caudron C.440.

Citations

  1. Green 1954, p. 88
  2. 1 2 Air-Britain Aviation World December 2011 p.173

Bibliography

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