The Dassault M.D.320 Hirondelle was a French 14-seat utility transport aircraft of the 1960s, designed and built by
Dassault Aviation
Dassault Aviation SA () is a French manufacturer of military aircraft and business jets.
It was founded in 1929 by Marcel Bloch as Société des Avions Marcel Bloch or "MB". After World War II, Marcel Bloch changed his name to Marcel Da ...
, in prototype form only.
Design and development
In 1967 the French Air Force, investigating replacement aircraft for the
Douglas DC-3
The Douglas DC-3 is a propeller-driven airliner
manufactured by Douglas Aircraft Company, which had a lasting effect on the airline industry in the 1930s to 1940s and World War II.
It was developed as a larger, improved 14-bed sleeper versi ...
and
Beechcraft 18
The Beechcraft Model 18 (or "Twin Beech", as it is also known) is a 6- to 11-seat, twin-engined, low-wing, tailwheel light aircraft manufactured by the Beech Aircraft Corporation of Wichita, Kansas. Continuously produced from 1937 to November ...
twin-engine aircraft being used for light transport and pilot navigation training, solicited proposals from the French industrial community, specifying that any submittals would be powered by
Turbomeca Astazou
The Turbomeca Astazou is a highly successful series of turboprop and turboshaft engines, first run in 1957. The original version weighed and developed at 40,000 rpm. It was admitted for aviation service on May 29, 1961, after a 150-hour test ...
turboprops.
In response to this request, Dassault designed and constructed a single prototype M.D.320, later named Hirondelle (''Swallow''). Design and construction were fairly rapid, due to extensive use of
Dassault Falcon 20
The Dassault Falcon 20 is a French business jet developed and manufactured by Dassault Aviation. The first business jet developed by the firm, it became the first of a family of business jets to be produced under the same name; of these, both t ...
elements such as the fuselage. The fuselage length and volume were identical to the Falcon 20, and its wing and control surfaces were adaptations of the 20.
The Hirondelle was an
all-metal low-wing
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 con ...
with swept vertical tail and slightly swept wing and
tailplane
A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail ( empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyropl ...
, supported on a retractable tricycle undercarriage, with the main gear retracting into the engine nacelles.
The Hirondelle had a circular cross-section fuselage with accommodation for a crew of two and room for a maximum of 14 passengers with 5 round windows on each side of the
pressurized cabin
Cabin pressurization is a process in which conditioned air is pumped into the cabin of an aircraft or spacecraft in order to create a safe and comfortable environment for passengers and crew flying at high altitudes. For aircraft, this air is u ...
.
The prototype, (French civil registration F-WPXB), was powered by two
Turbomeca Astazou XIVD turboprop
A turboprop is a turbine engine that drives an aircraft propeller.
A turboprop consists of an intake, reduction gearbox, compressor, combustor, turbine, and a propelling nozzle. Air enters the intake and is compressed by the compressor. ...
engines mounted in wing
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 attache ...
s, driving three-blade fully feathering propellers. Production aircraft would have been powered by
Turbomeca Astazou XVI engines.
The airframe was designed using
fail-safe
In engineering, a fail-safe is a design feature or practice that in the event of a specific type of failure, inherently responds in a way that will cause minimal or no harm to other equipment, to the environment or to people. Unlike inherent safe ...
principles and the wings contained integral fuel cells.
Orperational history
The prototype first flew on 11 September 1968, at
Bordeaux-Mérignac.
In 1968 the French Air Force procurement office reversed its previous position and announced that it was seeking jet-powered aircraft for the DC-3/Beechcraft 18 replacement program. Thus there was no further official interest in the Hirondelle, and no further examples were constructed.
The experience gained in the Hirondelle program was applied to the subsequent
Dassault Falcon 10
The Dassault Mystère/Falcon 10 is an early corporate jet aircraft developed by French aircraft manufacturer Dassault Aviation. Despite its numbering sequence it was actually developed after the Falcon 20, and although it is sometimes considere ...
project, the prototype of which first flew in 1970.
The Hirondelle was the last propeller-powered aircraft to be designed by Dassault.
Specifications (M.D.320 Hirondelle)
See also
References
*
Dassault website (in French)Information on Hirondelle program
{{Dassault aircraft
Hirondelle
1960s French military utility aircraft
Cancelled military aircraft projects of France
Low-wing aircraft
Twin-turboprop tractor aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1968