The SNCAC Martinet was a German-designed but French-built twin-engined military trainer and light transport monoplane. It was operated by the French military and in small numbers by French airlines from the late 1940s.

Development

To aide the German war effort the SNCAC factory at Bourges was ordered to produce 455

Siebel Si 204 The Siebel Si 204 was a small twin-engined transport and trainer aircraft developed in World War II. It was based on the Fh 104 Hallore. Originally designed in response to an Ministry of Aviation development order for a small civil transport ai ...

s light transports for the Luftwaffe. Production started in 1942 and 168 had been delivered before the Liberation stopped production. The French decided to continue producing the aircraft and designated the aircraft NC.700. Only a prototype NC.700 was built powered by Renault 12S-00 engines (derived from the German AS-411) although the designation was also used for a small number of aircraft originally intended for the Luftwaffe and diverted to the French Air Force. The company then produced two variants; the NC.701 Martinet based on the Si 204D with a glazed unstepped nose and powered by two Renault 12S engines, and the NC.702 Martinet with a conventional stepped windscreen nose based on the Si 204A.

Operational history

The Martinet was used by both the French Air Force and Navy and the final example did not retire until 1963. A small number were used by commercial operators including

Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global a ...

but were soon replaced by larger aircraft like the Douglas DC-3. A number were used by the French Postal Service but they were grounded following an accident to F-BBFA is July 1946. The aircraft was used by the

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for photo-survey work and a few aircraft were also exported to Poland and Sweden for use on photo-mapping duties.

Variants

;NC.700 :A Renault 12S powered Si-204, one prototype. ;NC.701 :Trainer version with dual controls and transparent nose based on the Si-204D. Room for five students as a radio trainer. ;NC.702 :Eight-seat transport version based on the Si-204A.

Operators

; *

* French Air Force *

French Navy The French Navy (french: Marine nationale, lit=National Navy), informally , is the maritime arm of the French Armed Forces and one of the five military service branches of France. It is among the largest and most powerful naval forces in t ...

; ; * LOT Polish Airlines operated 6 NC.701 for aerial photography in 1947-1948.Jońca, Adam (1985). ''Samoloty linii lotniczych 1945-1956'', Barwa w lotnictwie polskim no.4, WKiŁ, Warsaw, , p.12 *

Polish Air Forces The Polish Air Force ( pl, Siły Powietrzne, , Air Forces) is the aerial warfare branch of the Polish Armed Forces. Until July 2004 it was officially known as ''Wojska Lotnicze i Obrony Powietrznej'' (). In 2014 it consisted of roughly 16,425 mil ...

operated 6 aircraft taken from LOT airlines in 1948 for aerial photography until the 1950s. ; * Rikets Allmänna Kartverk operated five aircraft for aerial photography and survey.

Survivors

*NC.702 282 with the Conservatoire de l'Air et de l'Espace d'Aquitaine, France *NC.702 331 with the Deutsches Technikmuseum, Berlin, Germany *NC.701 SE-KAL on display at the Air and Space Museum, Arlanda, Stockholm, Sweden.

Specifications (NC.701)

References

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External links

Siebel Si 204
{{SNCAC aircraft 1940s French military trainer aircraft Low-wing aircraft Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft SNCAC aircraft Siebel aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1944 Twin-tail aircraft