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On October 12 1951 the Comité du Matériel Civil (civil aircraft committee) published a specification for a medium range aircraft, which was later sent to the industry by the Direction Technique et Industrielle. This called for an aircraft carrying 55 to 65 passengers and 1000 kg of cargo on routes up to 2000 km with a cruise speed about 600 km/h. The type and number of engines wasn't specified. Various design studies for aircraft in this category had been underway since 1946 by several of the leading French aircraft manufacturing organisations, but none had the financial power to start construction.
Response from the French industry was strong, with every major manufacturer sending in at least one proposal, with a total of 20 different designs were received. Most of the proposals used all-turbojet power, although Breguet entered a number of designs for both turbojet and turboprop types; among these was one for an Atar-powered tri-jet to be developed in association with the SNCA du Nord and a turboprop type, all known as Br. 978. Hurel-Dubois entered several turboprop designs based on a narrow fuselage and shoulder mounted wing similar to many regional propliners. Proposals from the SNCA du Sud-Ouest included the S.O.60 with two Rolls-Royce Avon RA.7 engines, with two smaller Turbomeca Marbore s as auxiliaries. SNCA du Sud-Est returned a number of designs from the X-200 to X-210, all of them pure-jet.
After studying the various entries, the Comité du Matériel Civil cut the list to three entrants on March 28 1952: the four-engined Avon/Marbore S.0.60, the twin-Avon Hurel-Dubois project, and the three-Avon Sud-Est X-210. At this point Rolls-Royce started offering a new version of the Avon that could develop 9,000 lb (40 kN) thrust, making the auxiliary engines on the S.O.60 and the third engine on the X-210 unnecessary.
The Comite requested SNCASE re-submit the X-210 as a twin-Avon design. In doing so they decided not to bother moving the remaining engines from their rear-mounted position; most designs mounted the engines under the wing where they can be mounted on the spar for lower overall weight, but SNCASE felt the savings weren't worth the effort. This turned out to be a benefit to the design, as the cabin noise was greatly reduced. The revised X-210 design with twin Avons was re-submitted to the SGACC in July 1952.
Two months later the SNCASE received official notification that its design had been accepted. On July 6 1953 the SGACC ordered two prototypes and two static airframes for fatigue testing. Sud's design licensed several fuselage features from De Havilland, a company Sud had dealings with for several earlier designs. The nose area and cockpit layout were both taken directly from the Comet, while the rest of the plane was locally designed.
The first prototype was rolled out on April 21 1955, and flew on May 27May 27 is the 147th day (148th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian calendar, with 218 days remaining. Events 1328 Philip VI is crowned King of France. 1703 Tsar Peter the Great founds the city of Saint Petersburg. 1813 War of 1812: In Canada, Unit, the second followed a year later on May 6May 6 is the 126th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar (127th in leap years). There are 239 days remaining. Events 1527 Spanish and German troops sack Rome; some consider this the end of the Renaissance. 1682 Louis XIV of France moves his court to V 19561956 is a leap year starting on Sunday. see link for calendar) Events January January 1 End of Anglo- Egyptian Condominium in Sudan. January 16 President Gamal Abdal Nasser of Egypt vows to reconquer Palestine January 26 1956 Winter Olympic Games open in. The first prototype had a cargo door on the lower left side of the fuselage, but this was removed the second prototype for an all-seating arrangement. The first order was from Air FranceBoeing 747 Air France (AFR, Compagnie Nationale Air France is the national airline of France. The company transported 43. 3 million passengers and earned 12. 53 billion Euro in revenues between April 2001 and March 2002. It has routes to 296 cities in 85 in 1956, followed by SASScandinavian Airlines System or SAS was founded in 1946 when the flag carriers of Denmark, Sweden and Norway formed a partnership to handle intercontinental traffic to Scandinavia. The companies then started coordination of European operations in 1948 and in 1957. That year Sud-Est merged with Sud-Ouest to become Sud Aviation, but the original SE naming was retained. More orders followed, mainly triggered by presentations on airshows and demonstrations to potential customers. The Caravelle was certified in May 1959 and entered shortly after service with SAS and AF.
Several models were produced over the lifetime of the production run, as the power of the available engines grew and allowed for higher takeoff weights. By this time most of Sud Aviation's design department turned to a supersonic transportA supersonic transport (SST is a civil aircraft designed to transport passengers at speeds greater than the speed of sound. As of 2004, there are no SSTs used in regular commercial service. Aside from the Concorde, the only other design built in quantity of the same general size and range as the Caravelle, naturally naming it the Super-CaravelleThe Super-Caravelle was a design for a supersonic transport from Sud Aviation in France. Unlike most competing designs which envisioned larger trans-atlantic aircraft and led to the likes of the Boeing 2707, the Super-Caravelle was a much smaller, shorter, however this work would later be merged with similar work at the Bristol Aeroplane CompanyThe Bristol Aeroplane Company (formerly British and Colonial Aeroplane Company) began building primitive Bristol Boxkites in a former tram shed and became famous for the production of the war-time Blenhein and Beaufighter, the Brabazon airliner prototypes to produce the Concorde.
In total 279 Caravelles of all types were build, with Sud Aviation's break-even point at the 200 mark. The Caravelle was thus the first airliner design to make a clear profit, something that would not be matched again until the 1970s.
World Airline Fleets News reported in September 2004 that the last operational Caravelle, a model 11R, registration 3D-KIK, was lost when it crashed at Gisenyi airport, Rwanda on 28 August 2004. It was flying from Kinshasa to Goma in the DR Congo when for unknown reasons it attempted to land at the neighbouring Gisenyi airport, whose runway was too short for the aircraft.