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Aviation History
1961
1961 - 0698.PDF
708 FLIGHT, 25 May 1961 • FRANCE'S AIRCRAFT INDUSTRY . . . loading door and weapons capability and theMH.262 with pressurized fuselage are in prospect. A production agreement has beenconcluded with Nord and the first production MH.260 should fly late this year. Certificationis expected next year and production of four per month will be reached in 1963. In thatyear the first 262 will become available. The 261 is in the military competition for alight freighter. Government financing for 100 civil MH.260s was announced in late1959. Firm options are reported from Ansett-ANA for six 262s; N.Z. National Airways Corp for four 260s; Wideroe for one 260 andthree 262s; Royal Air Maroc for three 260s; and Government of Cambodia for one 260.Less firm options are Trans-Australia Airlines for six 262s; East-West Airlines for three orsix 260s; MacRobertson-Miller for two 260s; Portuguese Africa for six 262s. The twoversions of the aircraft are complementary, in that they have identical wings, tail surfacesand engines, while the 262 offers pressurized comfort and seating for 26 instead of 23tourist passengers. A large freight door for- ward in the 262 allows mixed passenger/cargolayouts, but its payload is slightly smaller than that of the 260. The latter offers a very largecabin and loading door at the rear, with a baggage compartment behind the main cabinand provision for galley and toilet. A Flight handling assessment of the piston-engined prototype (Flight, November 13, 1959) showed exceptionally pleasant handling char-acteristics, a stalling speed close to 60kt and excellent behaviour on a short grass landingstrip. Maximum take-off weight is 21,7001b and useful load 8,8001b. Best cruising speed is250 m.p.h. and take-off to 35ft is 950ft at 18,7001b weight. Price of the 260 with radiois £104,000, and of the 262, £112,000. The military MH.261 is to be powered by1,100 h.p. Bastan Vs, weigh 13,3001b empty and 21,6001b gross, carry fuel for 5hr and beable to carry out its observation and support role for 3hr 220 miles away from its base.The military specification demands that it should carry 3,3001b of freight for 930 milesor eight stretcher cases and one attendant, or parachutists. In addition it has an aimingposition in the nose, and will carry guns. rockets and light missiles. Other featuresinclude four-blade propellers, tandem-wheel main-undercarriage units and a rear loadingramp. Cessna have acquired 47 per cent of MaxHolste's capital and the French company will progressively assemble and finally manu-facture the Cessna 31 OF and, possibly, other types. Hurel-Dubois Since the completion of thesmall batch of HD.34s for the Institut Geo- graphique National, Hurel-Dubois haveobtained sub-contracts, including structural components and furnishings, for the Caravelle,rear-fuselage sections and gun-packs for the Mirage III, production design of the SuperBroussard wing for Nord and manufacture of luxury seats for Air France Boeing 707s.More recently, accommodation and support have been provided for Max Cardan in thepreparation of the GY.80 (see top picture). Now, Hurel-Dubois are designing the HD. 130twin-Astazou light transport (drawing, page 680 last week) and a military observationaircraft designated HD.150. The HD.130 will weigh 12,3001b, cruise at 187 m.p.h. andcarry 4,9001b for 125 miles or 3,2501b for 935 miles. Sample loads include 14 passen- Max Gordon's GY.80 Horizon Morane Saulnier MS.880 Rallye Club Morane Saulnier MS.760 Paris gers or one car. It will be able to use short,rough fields. The HD.150 design, likewise turbine-engined, has been submitted to theFrench Services. Latecoere Having concentrated since WorldWar II on airframe sub-contracts, construc- toin of special test equipment and on thedesign of missiles for the French Navy, Latecoere now has three aircraft projects. The870 is a twin-Astazou, eight-seat, pressurized executive type with high-set swept wing andT-tail. It will cruise at 360 m.p.h. at 16,000ft and weigh 7,5001b. The 853 is a twin-Astazoufreighter and the 863 is a four-Bastan, 38-seat transport cruising at 373 m.p.h. Gross weightis 31,0001b and best payload 9,9001b. Morane-Saulnier Main production effort atthe moment is concentrated on the four-seat, twin-Marbore Paris and its more powerfulderivative, the Paris II. These are powered respectively by Turbomeca Marbore 2 and4 turbojets. Some 200 of both types have been Nord 1500 Griffon ordered, many of them for the French airforce, but others were exported to ten foreign countries. Licences were granted to twocountries. About 100 Paris have been com- pleted and production is at the rate of fourper month. Two prototypes of the MS. 1500 Epervier military close-support aircraft arereported to be still flying, and have been evaluated by the US Army, but no productionorder has been placed. The powerplant is a Turbomeca Bastan turboprop. Rapidly building up as a major programmeis the intensive production effort at Tarbes for the MS.880 Rallye Club three-seater(Continental 90 h.p. or 100 h.p.) and the MS.885 Super Rallye four-seater (Continental145 h.p.). This is the first light-aircraft pro- gramme in Europe which will anything likeequal the rate of production achieved by the major American companies. More than 300firm orders have been received, 125 in France and the rest from 21 countries abroad, andMorane have already decided to double the rate of production from 30 per month, whichwill be reached in August this year, to 60 per month from March 1962. Only nine 90 h.p.Rallyes have been ordered, compared «itn 142 with 100 h.p. and 160 with 145 h.p. engines. The first prototype flew two years ago, and aprototype of the definitive production three- seater flew early this year. It was followed :ntothe air on April 20 by the first 145 n.p. Super Rallye. Official certification test atBretigny are now complete, and the 145 li.P- version is being demonstrated in the I. sA.The Coleton company is representing Mi'-ine in the US and has already booked n^n>tentative orders. Agencies or arranger; >t--nts for assembly have been prepared in Swi'7cr'land and Australia. It is noteworthy tha the
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