The Caudron C.61 was a French three-engined civil transport

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

aircraft built by the French aeroplane manufacturer

Caudron The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for ...

. It was constructed of wood and covered in fabric.

Development

The prototype C.61 (F-ESAE) had a freight hold and cabin for six passengers. The

conventional landing gear Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

also included a wheel beneath the nose to prevent nose-overs on landing. For the production C.61s the cabin size was increased to accommodate eight passengers.

Operational history

In 1923, six C.61s were bought by

Compagnie Franco-Roumaine de Navigation Aérienne CFRNA ("The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport"; french: Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne; ro, Compania franco-română de navigație aeriană) was a French Third Republic, French–Kingdom of Romania, Romanian airline, Po ...

to run between

Bucharest Bucharest ( , ; ro, București ) is the capital and largest city of Romania, as well as its cultural, industrial, and financial centre. It is located in the southeast of the country, on the banks of the Dâmbovița River, less than north of ...

and

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

Variants

;C.61: Initial production variant. ;C.61bis: In 1924 many C.61s were modified to take

Salmson CM.9 The Salmson water-cooled aero-engines, produced in France by Société des Moteurs Salmson from 1908 until 1920, were a series of pioneering aero-engines: unusually combining water-cooling with the radial arrangement of their cylinders. Histor ...

radial engines outboard, increasing the maximum loaded weight to . ;C.81:1923 trimotor airliner ;C.83:1924 Unbuilt trimotor project ;C.183:1923 trimotor airliner

Operators

Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne CFRNA ("The French-Romanian Company for Air Transport"; french: Compagnie franco-roumaine de navigation aérienne; ro, Compania franco-română de navigație aeriană) was a French–Romanian airline, founded on 1 January 1920. Its name changed ...

Specifications (C.61)

Accidents

*after 1923 (date unknown) - C.61 lost when it came down at sea *July 3, 1926 - C.61 operated by Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aérienne crashes in Czechoslovakia

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * * {{Caudron aircraft 1920s French airliners C.061 Biplanes Trimotors