The Caudron C.600 Aiglon is a 1930s French two-seat monoplane sport/touring aircraft built by

Caudron The Société des Avions Caudron was a French aircraft company founded in 1909 as the Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères by brothers Gaston and René Caudron. It was one of the earliest aircraft manufacturers in France and produced planes for ...

– Renault.

Development

The Aiglon (en: ''Eaglet'') was designed by Marcel Riffard after he took over the design department when Caudron merged with Renault. The Aiglon was a two-seat low-wing cantilever monoplane with tandem open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s. The first of two

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 ...

s first flew in March

1935 Events January * January 7 – Italian premier Benito Mussolini and French Foreign Minister Pierre Laval conclude Franco-Italian Agreement of 1935, an agreement, in which each power agrees not to oppose the other's colonial claims. * ...

from Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. Two special long-distance versions (C.610 Aiglons) were built with increased fuel capacity. In December

a C.610 was flown from Paris to

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at an average speed of 80 mph (129 km/h). The type was popular with French private owners and flying clubs, and a number were sold abroad. With the outbreak of the Second World War many of the aircraft were requisitioned by the French Government for use as liaison aircraft by the Armée de l'Air. Total production of the Aiglon was 203 aircraft, including 178 of the basic Renault 4Pgi Bengali Junior powered model.

Variants

;C.600 Aiglon:production model with a

Renault 4Pgi Bengali Junior 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 Oc ...

engine, 178 built. ;C.600G Aiglon:modified version with a de Havilland Gipsy Major engine, five built. ;C.601 Aiglon Senior:modified version with a Renault 4Pei engine, 18 built. ;C.610 Aiglon:special long-distance single-seat version with increased fuel, two built. ;Caudron KXC1:A C.601 exported to Japan for evaluation by the

Imperial Japanese Navy Air Service The was the Naval aviation, air arm of the Imperial Japanese Navy (IJN). The organization was responsible for the operation of naval aircraft and the conduct of aerial warfare in the Pacific War. The Japanese military acquired their first air ...

Operators

The aircraft was operated by flying clubs, private individuals and a few air forces: ; * Argentine Air Force ; *

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

; * Guatemalan Air Force ; * Royal Hungarian Air Force operated 6 aircraft between 1943 and 1945 ; *

, one example evaluated under designation KXC ; * Royal Romanian Air Force ; *

Spanish Republican Air Force The Spanish Republican Air Force was the air arm of the Armed Forces of the Second Spanish Republic, the legally established government of Spain between 1931 and 1939. Initially divided into two branches: Military Aeronautics ('' Aeronáutica M ...

, used at El Carmolí fighter pilot training facility.Wings Palette - Caudron C.60/600/601 Aiglon - Spain
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Specifications (C.600)

References

Bibliography