SNCASE (abbreviated from ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du Sud-Est'') or Sud-Est was a French aircraft manufacturer. The company was formed on February 1, 1937, by the nationalization and merger of

Lioré et Olivier Lioré-et-Olivier was a French manufacturer of aircraft of the 20th century, founded in 1912 by Fernand Lioré and Henri Olivier. History The ''Société de Constructions Aéronautiques d'hydravions Lioré-et-Olivier'' had three factories, loca ...

, Potez, CAMS, Romano and SPCA.

History

Following the resolution of the 1936

general strike A general strike refers to a strike action in which participants cease all economic activity, such as working, to strengthen the bargaining position of a trade union or achieve a common social or political goal. They are organised by large coa ...

of French heavy industry, the government of

Léon Blum André Léon Blum (; 9 April 1872 – 30 March 1950) was a French socialist politician and three-time Prime Minister. As a Jew, he was heavily influenced by the Dreyfus affair of the late 19th century. He was a disciple of French Socialist lea ...

introduced an act to nationalize the French war industry. The act provided for the creation of seven nationalized aeronautical manufacturing companies: six for aircraft (SNCASE, SNCASO, SNCAN, SNCAO, SNCAM,

SNCAC SNCAC (the ', sometimes known as ) was a French aircraft manufacturer created by the nationalisation of the Farman Aviation Works and Hanriot firms in 1936 in aviation, 1936. It was liquidated in 1949, with assets distributed between SNCAN, SNC ...

), and one for aircraft engines ( SNCM -

Lorraine-Dietrich Lorraine-Dietrich was a French automobile and aircraft engine manufacturer from 1896 until 1935, created when railway locomotive manufacturer ''Société Lorraine des Anciens Etablissements de Dietrich et Cie de Lunéville'' (known as ''De Dietri ...

). SNCASE incorporated the facilities of Potez in Berre-l'Étang, CAMS in Vitrolles, Romano in

Cannes Cannes ( , , ; oc, Canas) is a city located on the French Riviera. It is a commune located in the Alpes-Maritimes department, and host city of the annual Cannes Film Festival, Midem, and Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ci ...

, SPCA in

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fran ...

and

Argenteuil Argenteuil () is a commune in the northwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. Argenteuil is a sub-prefecture of the Val-d'Oise department, the seat of the arrondissement of Argenteuil. Argenteuil is the sec ...

and Marignane. SNCASE became the largest of the aeronautical ', with of space in six factories and employees. ( of the workforce came from Lioré et Olivier, along with 90% of then-current manufacturing contracts.) In 1941, during the Second World War, the Paris design bureaus of both the nationalized and the private aircraft firms were relocated to avoid capture. SNCASE acquired the failing SNCAM and moved its engineering operations to SNCAM's headquarters at the former

Dewoitine Constructions Aéronautiques Émile Dewoitine was a French aircraft manufacturer established by Émile Dewoitine at Toulouse in October 1920. The company's initial products were a range of metal parasol-wing fighters which were largely ignored by th ...

factory in

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger Regions of France, region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. The city is on t ...

. During the rationalisation of the nationalised Aircraft Industry during the 1950s, SNCASE merged with SNCASO to form

Sud Aviation Sud Aviation (, ''Southern Aviation'') was a French state-owned aircraft manufacturer, originating from the merger of Sud-Est ( SNCASE, or ''Société nationale des constructions aéronautiques du sud-est'') and Sud-Ouest ( SNCASO or ''Sociét� ...

on March 1, 1957, which in turn was later amalgamated into

Aérospatiale Aérospatiale (), sometimes styled Aerospatiale, was a French state-owned aerospace manufacturer that built both civilian and military aircraft, rockets and satellites. It was originally known as Société nationale industrielle aérospatiale ( ...

and eventually the

EADS Airbus SE (; ; ; ) is a European multinational aerospace corporation. Airbus designs, manufactures and sells civil and military aerospace products worldwide and manufactures aircraft throughout the world. The company has three divisions: '' ...

group.

Products

Most early Sud-Est aircraft retained their earlier designations, such as the Lioré et Olivier LeO 451 bomber. The first aircraft produced under the Sud-Est marque was the

Sud-Est SE 100 The SNCASE SE.100 was a French two-seat, twin-engined fighter that first flew in 1939. Mass production was planned to begin late in 1940 but the Fall of France prevented this. Design and development The origins of the SE.100 predate the creation ...

(formerly Leo 50) fighter. As well as fixed winged aircraft work, SNCASE carried out research into rotary-winged aircraft capitalising on the experience gained from absorbing the Liore et Olivier team which had license-built the

Cierva C.30 The Cierva C.30 is an autogyro designed by Juan de la Cierva and built under licence from the Cierva Autogiro Company by A V Roe & Co Ltd (Avro), Lioré-et-Olivier and Focke-Wulf. Design and development Before the experimental Cierva C.19 ...

design (as the LeO C.30 and C.301 to C.305 variants), and designing and building the LeO C.34 (derived from Kellett designs). After World War II further work on autogyro's produced the SE.700 and SE.700A multi-seat Liaison autogyros, which were quickly over-shadowed by the rapid development of helicopters. SNCASE continued experimenting with helicopters with the help from a team from

Focke Achgelis Focke-Achgelis & Co. G.m.b.H. was a German helicopter company founded in 1937 by Henrich Focke and Gerd Achgelis. History Henrich Focke was ousted in 1936 from the Focke-Wulf company, which he had cofounded in 1924, due to shareholder pressure ...

building the SE.3000, which was a French version of the twin-rotor Focke Achgelis Fa 223 Drache, and the smaller, more conventional, SE.3101. With this experience SNCASE went on to design the SE.3110 and eventually the SE.3120 Alouette which first flew on 21 July 1951 and broke the helicopter distance and speed records in July 1953. Production versions of the Alouette emerged as the commercially successful Alouette II and

Alouette III Alouette or alouettes may refer to: Music and literature * "Alouette" (song), a French-language children's song * Alouette, a character in ''The King of Braves GaoGaiGar'' Aerospace * SNCASE Alouette, a utility helicopter developed in France in ...

, resulting in production runs of several hundreds, with many exported. Fixed wing aircraft were also developed post World War II, with several jet research aircraft and two significant airliners: The SE-2010 Armagnac and the SE-210 Caravelle airliners. Production licences were also obtained from de Havilland for the de Havilland Sea Venom to provide all-weather and day fighters for the Aéronautique Navale., with 121 two-seat and single-seat Aquilon 20 / 201 / 202 / 203 / 204 built from 1952.

SNCASE aircraft production

Early three digit sequence * SNCASE SE.100 (developed from Liore et Olivier LeO 50) (1939) *

SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc The SNCASE SE.161 Languedoc was a French four-engined airliner produced by SNCASE (Sud-Est). Developed from the Bloch MB.160 and known in the late 1930s as the (SNCSO) Bloch MB.161, the SE.161 was in service with Air France and the French milita ...

(developed from Bloch 160) (1939) * SNCASE SE.200 Amphitrite (1942) * SNCASE SE-400 (1939) * SNCASE SE-700 & 700A (1945) Four digit model sequence * SNCASE SE-1010 (1948) *

SNCASE SE-1210 The SNCASE SE-1210 was an experimental French flying-boat designed and built by SNCASE as a flying scale model of the proposed SE-1200 transatlantic flying boat. Design and development Following the end of the Second World War, the French aircra ...

(1948) * SNCASE SE-2010 Armagnac (1949) *

SNCASE SE-2100 The Sud-Est or SNCASE SE-2100, sometimes known as the Satre SE-2100 after its designer, was a tailless, pusher configuration touring monoplane with a single engine and cabin for two. Only one was built. Design and development The SE-2100 was d ...

(1945) * SNCASE SE-2300 & 2310 (1945) * SNCASE SE-2410 & 2415 Grognard (1950) * SNCASE SE-5000 & 5003 Baroudeur (1953) Helicopters (3000-series designation sequence) * SNCASE SE-3000 (development of Focke-Achgelis Fa 223) (1948) *

SNCASE SE-3101 The SNCASE SE-3101 or Sud-Est SE-3101 was an early, experimental French helicopter with twin tail rotors. Only one was built. Design and development The SE-3101 is an early, experimental helicopter, developed by the German aviation pioneer He ...

(1948) *

SNCASE SE-3110 The SNCASE SE-3110 or Sud-Est SE-3110 was a French two seat experimental helicopter with unusual twin, angled tail rotors, first flown in 1950. After brief tests SNCASE decided to concentrate on a closely related but single-tail-rotor design. De ...

(1950) *

SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette The SNCASE SE.3120 ''Alouette'' ("Lark") was a utility helicopter developed in France in the early 1950s but which did not enter production. Designed in parallel with the SE.3110, the Alouette shared that machine's dynamic components, with the ex ...

(1951) * SNCASE SE-3130 Alouette II & SE-3131 Gouverneur (1955) * SNCASE SE-3150 Lama (1969) * SNCASE SE-3160 Alouette III (1959) * SNCASE SE-3200 Frelon (1959) Late three digit designation sequence * SNCASE SE-116 & 117 Voltigeur (1958) * SNCASE SE-210 Caravelle (1955) * SNCASE SE.212 Durandal (1956)

Designs built under licence

* SNCASE SE-532-535 Mistral ; license-built de Havilland Vampire (1951) *

SNCASE Aquilon The de Havilland Sea Venom is a British postwar carrier-capable jet aircraft developed from the de Havilland Venom. It served with the Royal Navy Fleet Air Arm and with the Royal Australian Navy. The French Navy operated the Aquilon, develo ...

; license-built de Havilland Sea Venom (1952)

References

External links