The twin turboprop Sud Aviation SE-116 Voltigeur of the late 1950s was a French army support aircraft capable of observation and ground attack operations. Three were built but no series production was undertaken.

Design and development

In 1958 France was in the middle of the

Algerian War The Algerian War, also known as the Algerian Revolution or the Algerian War of Independence,( ar, الثورة الجزائرية '; '' ber, Tagrawla Tadzayrit''; french: Guerre d'Algérie or ') and sometimes in Algeria as the War of 1 November ...

and felt a need for a counter-insurgency aircraft capable of observation, photography and ground support. This official programme led to three aircraft: the SIPA S.1100, the Sud Aviation SE-116 Voltigeur and, slightly later, the Dassault Spirale. All three were

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

driven designs with twin engines. Orinally known as the Fonceur, the Voltigeur was named after the French

cavalry Historically, cavalry (from the French word ''cavalerie'', itself derived from "cheval" meaning "horse") are soldiers or warriors who fight mounted on horseback. Cavalry were the most mobile of the combat arms, operating as light cavalry ...

units specialising in

skirmishes Skirmishers are light infantry or light cavalry soldiers deployed as a vanguard, flank guard or rearguard to screen a tactical position or a larger body of friendly troops from enemy advances. They are usually deployed in a skirmish line, an i ...

. It was a low wing cantilever monoplane. All its flying surfaces were straight tapered and square tipped; the vertical tail was tall and broad. The first prototype had Wright Cyclone nine cylinder radial engines mounted ahead of the wing leading edges, with cowlings, largely above the wing, projecting beyond the trailing edge. On the second prototype the Cyclones were replaced with

Turbomeca Bastan The Turbomeca Bastan was a turboprop engine developed in France in 1957. Early models developed 650 shp (485 kW), but by 1965 this had been increased to 1,048 shp (780 kW) with the Bastan VII. Flight tests of some Bastan models were ca ...

turboprops in much more slender cowlings on the top of the wings. The Voltigeur had tricycle gear with main legs that retracted backwards into under-engine cowlings; the nose wheel retracted into the fuselage. Each main leg carried a pair of wheels to assist with take-offs and landings on rough strips. The Voltigeur had a conventional, multi-panel, glazed cabin and a glazed nose offering good ground views. Behind the wing trailing edge the fuselage carried perforated airbrakes for ground attacks; the Voltigeur was fitted with two guns and six underwing attachment points for bombs and rockets. The piston-engined Voltigeur was first flown on 5 June 1958 by Roger Carpentier who also took the turboprop version on its first flight on 15 December 1958. A few weeks later, on 9 January 1959, Carpentier, Yves Crouzet and Marcel Hochet were killed when tail flutter developed in a high-speed run. After tests of the SE-117 first pre-production machine, conducted in collaboration with Marcel Dassault, the Voltigeur programme was abandoned along with a projected fast transport, the SE-118 Diplomate.

Variants

''Data from Gaillard (1990).'' ;SE-116 Voltigeur: First two aircraft, the first with Wright Cyclones radials and the second with Turbomeca Bastan turboprops. ;SE-117 Voltigeur: Third airframe and first production aircraft, Turbomeca Bastan powered, tested in collaboration with Marcel Dassault. ;SE-118 Diplomate: Projected fast transport, abandoned.

Specifications (SE-117 Voltigeur)

References

{{Sud/Aérospatiale aircraft Voltigeur 1950s French patrol aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1958 Twin-turboprop tractor aircraft