The ''Société Provençale de Constructions Aéronautiques'' (SPCA) was a French aircraft manufacturing company, with its head office in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

and its workshop in

La Ciotat La Ciotat (; oc, label= Provençal Occitan, La Ciutat ; in Mistralian spelling ''La Ciéutat''; 'the City') is a commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in Southern France. It is the southeasternmo ...

near

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

.La S.P.C.A.
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History

Founded by

Georges Philippar Georges Philippar (16 October 1883 – 10 February 1959) was a French shipbuilder. He joined the Messageries Maritimes company in 1912, becoming its chief executive officer in 1925. The ill-fated French ocean liner MS ''Georges Philippar'' wa ...

in 1925, SPCA began as a subsidiary venture of SPCN ( Société Provençale de Constructions Navales)

shipbuilding company A shipyard, also called a dockyard or boatyard, is a place where ships are built and repaired. These can be yachts, military vessels, cruise liners or other cargo or passenger ships. Dockyards are sometimes more associated with maintenance a ...

. Initially this aircraft builder was known particularly for its

seaplane A seaplane is a powered fixed-wing aircraft capable of takeoff, taking off and water landing, landing (alighting) on water.Gunston, "The Cambridge Aerospace Dictionary", 2009. Seaplanes are usually divided into two categories based on their tec ...

s. None of the aircraft made by SPCA was built in large numbers. Part of them never even made it past the

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 ...

stage, such as the 1928 SPCA 10, often known as the SPCA Paulhan-Pillard after its designers

Louis Paulhan Isidore Auguste Marie Louis Paulhan (; 19 July 1883 – 10 February 1963), was a French aviator. He is known for winning the first ''Daily Mail'' aviation prize for the first flight between London and Manchester in 1910. Biography Paulhan was b ...

and engineer Pillard. In the early 1930s SPCA built the SPCA Hermès 60T, a twin-engined flying boat, the small, single-engined SPCA 80 ''avion "de police coloniale"'' and the three-engined SPCA 90, an airliner and ambulance aircraft. In 1936 SPCA was nationalizedIl y a 75 ans, les nationalisations de l’aéronautique française
/ref> and merged in 1937 with

Lioré et Olivier Lioré-et-Olivier was a French manufacturer of aircraft of the 20th century, founded in 1912 by Fernand Lioré and Henri Olivier. History The ''Société de Constructions Aéronautiques d'hydravions Lioré-et-Olivier'' had three factories, loca ...

Potez Potez (pronounced ) was a French aircraft manufacturer founded as Aéroplanes Henry Potez by Henry Potez at Aubervilliers in 1919 in aviation, 1919. The firm began by refurbishing war-surplus SEA IV aircraft, but was soon building new examples of ...

, CAMS and

Romano Romano may refer to: Food * Pecorino Romano, a hard, salty Italian cheese * Romano cheese, an American English and Canadian English term for a class of cheeses Places Italy Municipalities in the Metropolitan City of Rome, Latium * Arcinazzo Ro ...

in order to form the Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est (SNCASE).

List of aircraft

* SPCA Météore 63 The first SPCA aircraft * SPCA 10 * SPCA 20 * SPCA 30 * SPCA 40T * SPCA Hermès 60T * SPCA 80 * SPCA 90 * SPCA 218

References

External links

*
Airwar - SPCA 30Airspot (in Russian)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Provencale de Constructions Aeronautiques Defunct aircraft engine manufacturers of France