Aérospatiale Alouette II

The Aérospatiale Alouette II (, Lark) is a light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale, both of France. The Alouette II was the first production helicopter to use a gas turbine engine instead of the conventional heavier piston powerplant.

The Alouette II was mostly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air-sea rescue, liaison and training, but it has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. As a civilian helicopter it was used for casualty evacuation (with two external stretcher panniers), crop-spraying and as a flying crane (with a 500 kg external under-slung load).

Design and development
Although Sud-Est's previous helicopter design, the SE 3120 Alouette, broke helicopter speed and distance records in July 1953, it was too complex an aircraft to market successfully. With the records falling, the French government started showing interest, but with their financial backing, the state gave an ultimatum that within two years a helicopter had to be in production, otherwise all rotary wing activities would cease. SNCASE came up with seven turbo-engine helicopter designs: X.310A - X.310G. Earlier Joseph Szydlowski, the founder of Turboméca, had successfully managed to develop the Artouste, a 260 hp single shaft turbine engine derived from his Orédon turbine. The X.310G design was chosen and together with the Artouste engine was fast-tracked towards production as the SE 3130 Alouette II.

The SE 3130 first flew on 12 March 1955 and within three months on 6 June a pre-production Alouette II flown by Jean Boulet set a new helicopter altitude record of 8,209 m (26,926 ft). On 13 June 1958 one SE 3130, again flown by Boulet, re-took the record, reaching a height of 10,984 m (36,027 ft).

Operational history
The Alouette II made the news on 3 July 1956 when it became the first helicopter to perform a mountain-rescue by evacuating a mountaineer who had suffered from cardiac arrest at over 4,000m and again on 3 January 1957 the Alouette II was called upon to rescue the crew of a crashed Sikorsky S-58, which was searching for missing mountaineers Jean Vincendon and François Henry on Mont Blanc.

The Alouette II was awarded a domestic certificate of airworthiness on 2 May, 1957.

Production started initially to fulfil orders from the French military and civilian customers. It was the first helicopter worldwide to be equipped with anti-tank munitions (Nord SS.11s), and by the time production ended in 1975, over 1,500 Alouette IIs had been built and in use in over 80 countries including 47 armed forces. It was produced under licence by Brazil, Sweden, India and in the United States. India's Hindustan Aeronautics Limited SA 315B Lamas, termed the 'Cheetah', was regularly deployed at 7,500 meters (24,600 ft) to forward observation outposts and air bases of the Indian Air Force in the Himalayas.



Variants

 * SE 3130 Alouette II – After 1967 called SA 313B Alouette II.
 * SE 3131 Gouverneur – Refined executive version with enclosed tailboom, which was abandoned in favour of the Alouette III.
 * SE 3140 Alouette II – Proposed version, it was going to be powered by a 298 kW (400 hp) Turbomeca Turmo II engine. None were built.
 * HKP 2 Alouette II – Swedish licence version of the SE 3130
 * SA 318C Alouette II Astazou – It has a 550 shp Turboméca Astazou IIA shaft turbine (derated to 360 shp) and strengthened transmission system of the Alouette III.
 * SA 318C Alouette II (was SE 3180 Alouette II) – After 1967 it was called the SE 3150.
 * SA 315B Lama – designed to meet an Indian armed forces requirement for operation in "hot and high" conditions; it combined the Artouste powerplant and rotor system of the Alouette III with a reinforced Alouette II airframe.

Operators

 * Peruvian Army
 * Tunisian Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force
 * Tunisian Air Force

Former operators

 * Austrian Air Force
 * Belgian Army
 * Gendarmerie
 * Military of Benin
 * Brazilian Air Force
 * Royal Cambodian Air Force
 * Cameroon Air Force
 * Central African Republic Air Force
 * Congolese Air Force
 * Djibouti Air Force
 * Dominican Air Force
 * Cameroon Air Force
 * Central African Republic Air Force
 * Congolese Air Force
 * Djibouti Air Force
 * Dominican Air Force
 * Congolese Air Force
 * Djibouti Air Force
 * Dominican Air Force
 * Dominican Air Force
 * Dominican Air Force
 * French Air Force
 * French Army
 * French Navy
 * Gendarmerie Nationale
 * Securite Civile
 * German Army
 * German Federal Police
 * Luftwaffe
 * German Federal Police
 * Luftwaffe
 * Military of Guinea-Bissau
 * Indonesian Army
 * Indonesian Navy
 * Israeli Air Force
 * Ivory Coast Air Force
 * Katanga
 * Force Aérienne Katangaise
 * Khmer Republic
 * Khmer National Air Force
 * Laos
 * Royal Lao Air Force
 * Lebanese Air Force
 * Mexican Navy
 * Netherlands Air Force
 * Royal Lao Air Force
 * Lebanese Air Force
 * Mexican Navy
 * Netherlands Air Force
 * Mexican Navy
 * Netherlands Air Force
 * Netherlands Air Force
 * Portuguese Air Force
 * National Republican Guard (GNR)
 * Rhodesia:
 * Rhodesian Air Force
 * Senegalese Air Force
 * 🇿🇦 South Africa
 * South African Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Swedish Army
 * Swiss Air Force
 * Swedish Air Force
 * Swedish Army
 * Swiss Air Force
 * Swiss Air Force
 * Army Air Corps
 * Army Air Corps