The SNCAC NC.130 was a French high-altitude research aircraft of the 1930s. A single example flew in 1939, but was destroyed during the
Second World War
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
Design and development
The French aircraft manufacturer
Farman
Farman Aviation Works () was a French aircraft company founded and run by the brothers Richard, Henri, and Maurice Farman. They designed and constructed aircraft and engines from 1908 until 1936; during the French nationalization and rational ...
designed and built the
Farman F.1000 series of high altitude aircraft in the early 1930s. When Farman was nationalised to form part of the ''Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Centre'' (
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 ...
) in 1936, SNCAC continued its interest in high altitude aircraft, proposing a number of high-altitude projects, including the NC.140 four-engined heavy bomber (a
pressurised derivative of the
Farman F.223.3) and the twin-engined
NC.150 bomber.
[Liron and Passingham ''Air Pictorial'' April 1970, p. 133.]
In order to aid the design of these projects and, in particular, the pressure cabins that they needed, SNCAC designed a pressurised twin-engined research aircraft, the SNCAC NC.130.
[.] The NC.130 was a low-winged
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
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 ...
with a fixed
tailwheel undercarriage. It was powered by two
Hispano-Suiza 12Y
The Hispano-Suiza 12Y was an aircraft engine produced by Hispano-Suiza for the French Air Force before the Second World War. The 12Y became the primary French 1,000 hp (750 kW) class engine and was used in a number of famous aircraft ...
br engines. Its crew of three were accommodated in a cylindrical riveted
duralumin
Duralumin (also called duraluminum, duraluminium, duralum, dural(l)ium, or dural) is a trade name for one of the earliest types of age hardening, age-hardenable aluminium–copper alloys. The term is a combination of ''Düren'' and ''aluminium'' ...
pressure cabin in the nose of the aircraft, with the pilot provided with thick glass portholes in the upper part of the cabin to allow outward vision.
Operational history
The NC.130 made its maiden flight on 10 October 1939.
In May 1940, it was evacuated to the former
Hanriot
Aéroplanes Hanriot et Cie. or simply 'Hanriot' was a French aircraft manufacturer with roots going back to the beginning of aviation. Founded by René Hanriot in 1910 as ''The Monoplans Hanriot Company Ltd.'', the company survived in differ ...
airfield at
Bourges
Bourges ( ; ; ''Borges'' in Berrichon) is a commune in central France on the river Yèvre (Cher), Yèvre. It is the capital of the Departments of France, department of Cher (department), Cher, and also was the capital city of the former provin ...
to escape the
German invasion,
interrupting the aircraft's test programme, it having flown 41 hours 18 minutes by this time.
The evacuation was not successful, as the NC.130 was destroyed later that year.
Specifications
See also
Notes
References
*
*
*
{{SNCAC aircraft
1930s French experimental aircraft
013
013 is a music venue in Tilburg, the Netherlands. The venue opened in 1998 and replaced the ''Noorderligt'', the ''Bat Cave'' and the ''MuziekKantenWinkel''. 013 is the largest popular music venue in the southern Netherlands.
There are two concer ...
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1939
Twin piston-engined tractor aircraft
Aircraft with retractable conventional landing gear