SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette
The Sud -Est SE 3120 " Alouette " was a two-seat multi-purpose helicopter of the French manufacturer " Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques de Sud -Est " ( SNCASE ) from the end of the 1940s and early 1950s.
History of development
First experiences with the construction of helicopters became Sud- Est SE 3000 a replica of the Focke- Achgelis Fa 223, which was created after the Second World War under the leadership of Professor Henrich Focke, and its single copy on October 23, 1948 for the first time flew. After the departure of Focke itself, however, still remained some German designers at SNCASE who developed a single-seat light helicopter with the label SE 3101 along with French engineers according to an order from the Ministère de l'Air. This was meant as a reduced model for a twelve -seater flying transport helicopters (SE 3100). With a 100 -horsepower engine could be achieved during the first flight on June 15, 1948 only a " flight level " of 50 cm.
This was followed by a further development of the Sud- Est SE 3110. SE 3101 and SE 3110 still had the usual for that time Focke- constructions twin tail rotors (see IPD BF-1 Beija -Flor and Borgward Kolibri ). However, before a prototype was built SE 3110, revised to the construction. This aircraft was designated the Sud- Est SE 3120th She had a two-seat fuselage gondola, a simple, zweikufiges landing gear and the tail boom was a simple lattice design. The rotor system consisted of a three-bladed main rotor and a two-bladed tail rotor, which were powered by a Salmson radial engine. The first flight of the helicopter took place on 31 July 1952. On July 2, 1953, the helicopter presented with 13 hours 56 minutes a round course world record for continuous flight on. The SE 3120 marked the beginning of the successful series of Alouette helicopters.