The Caudron C.640 Typhon was a 1930s

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), ...

high-speed single-seat

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 ...

utility 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 Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

History

Similar in concept to the

de Havilland DH.88 Comet The de Havilland DH.88 Comet is a British two-seat, twin-engined aircraft built by the De Havilland, de Havilland Aircraft Company. It was developed specifically to participate in the 1934 England-Australia MacRobertson Air Race from the Unit ...

the Typhon (en: ''Typhoon'') was designed by Georges Otfinovsky and

Marcel Riffard Marie André Marcel Riffard (30 November 1886 – 9 July 1981) was a French aeronautical engineer. He designed fighter aircraft and air racers, as well as airplanes for postal delivery and medical transport. He also designed racing cars and land- ...

for use on long-range postal routes. The first aircraft first flew on 17 June 1935. The aircraft was a twin- engined 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 of wooden construction. Seven C.640s were built. The Typhon established 5000 km speed records. It was not a success in operation as its flexible wings experienced

buffeting Aeroelasticity is the branch of physics and engineering studying the interactions between the inertial, elastic, and aerodynamic forces occurring while an elastic body is exposed to a fluid flow. The study of aeroelasticity may be broadly classif ...

and vibration problems.

Variants

*C.640 Typhon - production model with

6Q engines, 7 built. *C.641 Typhon - record breaking version with raised canopy and increased fuel capacity, 2 built. *C.670 Typhon - prototype high-speed bomber version with a crew of three, similar to the C.640 but with increased dimensions and weights, one built.

Operators

; *

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

; *

Romanian Air Force The Romanian Air Force (RoAF) () is the air force branch of the Romanian Armed Forces. It has an air force headquarters, an operational command, five air bases, a logistics base, an air defense brigade, an air defense regiment and an ISR (Intel ...

Specifications (C.640)

References

;Notes *

External links

Photo at Aviafrance
{{Caudron aircraft 1930s French mailplanes 1930s French civil utility aircraft C.640 Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1935 Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft