SNCASE (abbreviated from ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est'') or Sud-Est was a French aircraft manufacturer. The company was formed on February 1, 1937, by the nationalization and merger of Lioré et Olivier,

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, Romano and SPCA.

History

Following the resolution of the 1936

general strike A general strike is a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coalitions ...

of French heavy industry, the government of Léon Blum introduced an act to nationalize the French war industry. The act provided for the creation of seven nationalized aeronautical manufacturing companies: six for aircraft (SNCASE, SNCASO, SNCAN, SNCAO, SNCAM,

SNCAC SNCAC (the ', sometimes known as ) was a French aircraft manufacturer. SNCAC was created by the nationalisation of the Farman Aviation Works and Hanriot firms in 1936. The company had a manufacturing facility in Boulogne-Billancourt which was ...

), and one for aircraft engines ( SNCM - Lorraine-Dietrich). SNCASE incorporated the facilities of Potez in

Berre-l'Étang Berre-l'Étang (; ) is a Communes of France, commune in the Bouches-du-Rhône Departments of France, department in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region in southern France. Population See also * Étang de Berre * Communes of the Bouches-du ...

, CAMS in Vitrolles, Romano in

Cannes Cannes (, ; , ; ) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a communes of France, commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes departments of France, department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions Internatio ...

, SPCA in

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

and Lioré et Olivier at

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a Communes of France, commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the Kilometre Zero, center of Paris. Argenteuil is a Subprefectures in France, sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise Departments of France, ...

and Marignane. SNCASE became the largest of the aeronautical ', with of space in six factories and employees. ( of the workforce came from Lioré et Olivier, along with 90% of then-current manufacturing contracts.) In 1941, during the Second World War, the Paris design bureaus of both the nationalized and the private aircraft firms were relocated to avoid capture. SNCASE acquired the failing SNCAM and moved its engineering operations to SNCAM's headquarters at the former Dewoitine factory in

Toulouse Toulouse (, ; ; ) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Haute-Garonne department and of the Occitania (administrative region), Occitania region. The city is on the banks of the Garonne, River Garonne, from ...

. During the rationalisation of the nationalised Aircraft Industry during the 1950s, SNCASE merged with SNCASO to form

Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, 'Southern Aviation') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating in the merger of Sud-Est ( SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest ( SNCASO or ''Société nat ...

on March 1, 1957, which in turn was later amalgamated into

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale () was a major French state-owned aerospace manufacturer, aerospace and arms industry, defence corporation. It was founded in 1970 as () through the merger of three established state-owned companies: Sud Aviation, Nord Aviation ...

and eventually the

Airbus Airbus SE ( ; ; ; ) is a Pan-European aerospace corporation. The company's primary business is the design and manufacturing of commercial aircraft but it also has separate Airbus Defence and Space, defence and space and Airbus Helicopters, he ...

group.

Products

Most early Sud-Est aircraft retained their earlier designations, such as the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451 bomber. The first aircraft produced under the Sud-Est marque was the Sud-Est SE 100 (formerly Leo 50) fighter. As well as fixed winged aircraft work, SNCASE carried out research into rotary-winged aircraft capitalising on the experience gained from absorbing the Liore et Olivier team which had license-built the Cierva C.30 design (as the LeO C.30 and C.301 to C.305 variants), and designing and building the LeO C.34 (derived from Kellett designs). After World War II further work on autogyro's produced the SE.700 and SE.700A multi-seat Liaison autogyros, which were quickly over-shadowed by the rapid development of helicopters. SNCASE continued experimenting with helicopters with the help from a team from Focke Achgelis building the SE.3000, which was a French version of the twin-rotor Focke Achgelis Fa 223 Drache, and the smaller, more conventional, SE.3101. With this experience SNCASE went on to design the SE.3110 and eventually the SE.3120 Alouette which first flew on 21 July 1951 and broke the helicopter distance and speed records in July

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito ...

. Production versions of the Alouette emerged as the commercially successful Alouette II and Alouette III, resulting in production runs of several hundreds, with many exported. Fixed wing aircraft were also developed post World War II, with several jet research aircraft and two significant airliners: The SE-2010 Armagnac and the SE-210 Caravelle airliners. Production licences were also obtained from

de Havilland The de Havilland Aircraft Company Limited (pronounced , ) was a British aviation manufacturer established in late 1920 by Geoffrey de Havilland at Stag Lane Aerodrome Edgware on the outskirts of North London. Operations were later moved to ...

for the de Havilland Sea Venom to provide all-weather and day fighters for the Aéronautique Navale., with 121 two-seat and single-seat Aquilon 20 / 201 / 202 / 203 / 204 built from 1952.

SNCASE aircraft production

Early three digit sequence * SNCASE SE.100 (developed from Liore et Olivier LeO 50) (1939) * SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc (developed from Bloch 160) (1939) * SNCASE SE.200 Amphitrite (1942) * SNCASE SE-400 (1939) * SNCASE SE-700 & 700A (1945) Four digit model sequence * SNCASE SE-1010 (1948) * SNCASE SE-1210 (1948) * SNCASE SE-2010 Armagnac (1949) * SNCASE SE-2100 (1945) * SNCASE SE-2300 & 2310 (1945) * SNCASE SE-2410 & 2415 Grognard (1950) * SNCASE SE-5000 & 5003 Baroudeur (1953) Helicopters (3000-series designation sequence) * SNCASE SE-3000 (development of Focke-Achgelis Fa 223) (1948) * SNCASE SE-3101 (1948) * SNCASE SE-3110 (1950) * SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette (1951) * SNCASE SE-3130 Alouette II & SE-3131 Gouverneur (1955) * SNCASE SE-3150 Lama (1969) * SNCASE SE-3160 Alouette III (1959) * SNCASE SE-3200 Frelon (1959) Late three digit designation sequence * SNCASE SE-116 & 117 Voltigeur (1958) * SNCASE SE-210 Caravelle (1955) * SNCASE SE.212 Durandal (1956)

Designs built under licence

* SNCASE SE-532-535 Mistral; license-built de Havilland Vampire (1951) * SNCASE Aquilon; license-built de Havilland Sea Venom (1952)

References

External links