The CASA C-201 Alcotán ("Kestrel") was a 1950s transport aircraft, built by CASA for the Spanish Air Force.

Design and development

The C-201 was the result of an agreement between the Spanish government and manufacturer

Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA Construcciones Aeronáuticas SA (CASA) was a Spanish aircraft manufacturer that was founded in 1923 and began manufacturing aircraft the following year. In 1999 it became a subsidiary of the EADS (European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) ...

(CASA), to develop a transport aircraft for the air force capable of carrying a payload of one tonne over a range of . The design was a twin-engine low-wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

of conventional configuration. The main units of the

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft An aircraft is a vehicle that is able to fly by gaining support from the air. It counters the force of gravity by using either static lift or by using the dynami ...

retracted into the engine

nacelle A nacelle ( ) is a "streamlined body, sized according to what it contains", such as an engine, fuel, or equipment on an aircraft. When attached by a pylon entirely outside the airframe, it is sometimes called a pod, in which case it is attached ...

Operational history

Two

prototype A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process. It is a term used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics, and Software prototyping, software programming. A prototyp ...

s were constructed, and the first of those first flew on 11 February 1949. An order for twelve pre-production aircraft and one hundred series aircraft was then placed. The pre-production machines were planned to demonstrate a range of different equipment fits for the airframe, enabling it for a variety of roles including personnel transport, training for bombing and photo-reconnaissance work, and instrument flying training. A number of

engines An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy. Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power ...

were also to be evaluated, including the

Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah The Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah is a seven-cylinder British air-cooled aircraft radial engine of 834 cu in (13.65 L) capacity introduced in 1935 and produced until 1948. Early variants of the Cheetah were initially known as the Lynx Major.Lums ...

that had powered the prototypes, the

Pratt & Whitney R-1340 The Pratt & Whitney R-1340 Wasp is an aircraft engine of the reciprocating type that was widely used in American aircraft from the 1920s onward. It was the Pratt & Whitney aircraft company's first engine, and the first of the famed Wasp series ...

, and the locally produced ENMASA Sirio.Flight 10 February 1956
/ref> The Alcotán project stalled, due to problems in the supply of powerplants and propellers. Spain's domestic engine industry was not capable of producing powerplants in sufficient quantity for the project, and Spain was unable to afford to import foreign engines. The production run had been scheduled to be completed before 1955, but the shortage of engines meant that by 1956, only eleven complete aircraft had been finished and delivered. In 1962, the project was finally cancelled, without the engine problem ever having been resolved. By then, CASA had 96 complete airframes in storage awaiting powerplants. Those were scrapped, and the Spanish government compensated the manufacturer for the debacle.

Variants

* C-201A - personnel transport with Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines * C-201B - personnel transport with ENMASA Sirio engines * C-201D - instrument flying, navigation, and radio training version with Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines * C-201E - bombing and photo-reconnaissance training version with Armstrong Siddeley Cheetah engines * C-201F - instrument flying, navigation, and radio training version with ENMASA Sirio engines * C-201G - bombing and photo-reconnaissance training version with ENMASA Sirio engines

Operators

; *

Spanish Air Force , colours = , colours_label = , march = Spanish Air and Space Force Anthem , mascot = , anniversaries = 10 December , equipment ...

Specifications (C-201A)

Notes

Bibliography

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External links

EADS website
{{DEFAULTSORT:CASA C-201 Alcotan 1940s Spanish military transport aircraft CASA aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1949 Low-wing aircraft Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft