SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette explained
The
SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette ("Lark") was a
utility helicopter developed in
France in the early 1950s but which did not enter production. Designed in parallel with the
SE.3110, the Alouette shared that machine's dynamic components, with the exception of the SE.3110's unusual twin
tail rotor, which was replaced by a single rotor, and the addition of a three-bladed gyroscopic stabiliser under the main rotor (similar to the stabiliser bar used by
Bell helicopters. The Alouette featured an open-framework
fuselage behind a
cockpit that was enclosed by a
bubble canopy. Skid
undercarriage and
tricycle gear were both tested.
The first flight took place on 31 July 1951 at Buc, Yvelines with test pilot Henri Stakenburg at the controls. On 2 July 1953, Jean Boulet flew one of the two prototype Alouettes to a world closed-circuit distance record for a helicopter in this class, covering 1252km (778miles) in 13 hours and 56 minutes. Despite this impressive performance, the Alouette proved to be difficult to maintain, with its obsolete Salmson engine not being powerful enough, and with work on the turbine-powered Alouette II (an unrelated design) already underway, development of the Alouette was soon abandoned.
References
- Book: Bridgman, Leonard . Leonard Bridgman . Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1953–54 . 1953 . London . Jane's All the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd..
- de Narbonne . Roland . Juillet 1951, dans l'aéronautique française: Une alouette...fait quelque fois le printemps . Le Fana de l'Aviation . July 2011 . 504 . 74–79 . fr.
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