The Caudron C.430 Rafale was a fast, two seat

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

touring

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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

. Soon after its first flight in 1933 it set an international class speed record.

Design and development

The C.430 Rafale was a two-seat development of the single seat

Caudron C.362 The Caudron C.362 and the almost identical C.366 were single-seat Air racing, racing aircraft built in 1933 by Caudron to compete in the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe competition. Design The C.362 and C.366 were single-seat, low-wing monoplanes wi ...

, the winner of the 1933

Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe The Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe was an international aeronautical speed competition instituted on 25 August 1909 by the French oil magnate Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe. The race was reinstated three times through the years at the initiative of the ...

. Slightly larger and heavier, though with a lower

wing loading In aerodynamics, wing loading is the total weight of an aircraft or flying animal divided by the area of its wing. The stalling speed, takeoff speed and landing speed of an aircraft are partly determined by its wing loading. The faster an airc ...

, the Rafale was a low wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

monoplane, wood framed and covered with a mixture of

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

and

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

. Its one piece, single spar wing was strongly straight tapered to elliptical tips and was

covered with an outer layer of fabric. There were flaps inboard of the

ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

.A new light plane record, 1934, p.359la Rougery, 1934, p.114 Its

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

was flat sided and fabric covered, with a deep, rounded decking running the full length. It had an air cooled inverted four cylinder inline

Renault 4Pei The Renault 4P, also called the Renault Bengali Junior, was a series of air-cooled 4-cylinder inverted inline aero engines designed and built in France from 1927, which produced from to . Design and development Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic Ocea ...

Bengali engine in the nose, driving a two blade, two position variable pitch

propeller A propeller (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 a working flu ...

. The Rafale's two seats were in tandem, one over the wing and the other behind the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

, under a long (about a third of the fuselage length), narrow multi-framed canopy with a blunt, vertical windscreen and sliding access. Behind the canopy a long fairing continued its profile to the straight tapered, round tipped vertical tail, which included a

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevator (air ...

that ended at the top of the fuselage. The tapered horizontal tail, with inset

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s, was mounted on the top of the fuselage largely ahead of the fin. Construction of the empennage was similar to that of the wing. The Rafale had a fixed landing gear, tailskid undercarriage. Its wheels were on vertical legs from the wings and were largely enclosed within magnesium aircraft fairing, spats. The C.430 Rafale ''F-AMVB'' probably flew for the first time in the last week of March 1934, though the other example may have flown earlier. A replica of Helene Boucher's F-AMVB was built by Jean Precetti, which is now on display at the Musée de l'Air d'Angers. In 2023, Renault introduces the Renault Rafale vehicle as a tribute to the Caudron C.430 Rafale.

Operational history

On 31 March 1934, only about a week after its first flight, the C.430 ''F-AMVB'' set a new International speed record of over for aircraft with an empty weight less than . Hélène Boucher, a prominent French pilot in the mid-1930s, died in a landing approach accident in ''F-AMVB'' on 30 November 1934. Though Caudron dominated the 1935 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe, the single seat C.430/1 Rafale, ''F-AMVA'' re-engined with a more powerful Renault 438, was outclassed by the single seat Caudron C.460, C.450 and C.460 machines and retired with engine problems after a few circuits.A Family Affair, 1935, p.1379

Variants

;C.430: As described below; two built. ;C.430/1: ''F-AMVA'' fitted with a Renault 438 engine in October 1934 for the 1935 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe.

Specifications (C.430)

References

Citations

Bibliography

* * * {{Caudron aircraft Caudron aircraft, C.430 1930s French sport aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1934