The Sud Aviation Caravelle Was The Citroën Of The Sky

"Margin Of Error" (marginoferror) 04/30/2015 at 15:17 • Filed to: PLANELOPNIK

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Innovative, beautiful and poorly executed are adjectives that generally applies to Citroën cars, but it also applies to the Sud Aviation Caravelle, the first ever short/medium plane without propellers.

The story of this quirky “ Franchouillard ” metallic bird began in October 1951, when 2 gentlemen for the French Civil Aviation committee, conveniently named Hervé and Didier, decided to mandate the state owned (obviously) SNCASE.

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SNCASE, which stands for a very long title with plenty of acute, grave and circumflex accents that basically meant “ Plane Company of the South-East ”, came up with the first ever aft-mounted engine, clean wing design (later stolen by Douglas for its DC-9).

The plane was accepted by the the two aforementioned “ monsieurs ” in 1953 and the first production example, christened Madame DeGaulle, rolled out on the French tarmac in 1955.

Pictured below, the real Madame De Gaulle

The short design-to-production delay was made possible by the borrowing of some parts of the deHavilland Comet, like the cockpit and part of the fuselage and thankfully not the square windows. The Caravelle was initially powered by 2 fancy Rolls-Royce Avon engines but other engines became available later.

The cockpit features 2 steering wheels, plenty of switches and knobs and dials and gauges and things that goes beep-beep. There was also a Marconi room for the flight engineer, right behind the drivers.

The Caravelle was a huge success as per French standards, almost 300 units were sold and the Caravelle deeply penetrated the US market with United buying 20 of them.

The interior was equally Citroen-esque with wooden panel and squarish avant-gard blue leather seats and plenty of ashtrays to dispose of Gitanes Blondes butts.

Sud Aviation later became Aérospatiale and eventually merged with BAC and the became Airbus. Fun fact, SUD Aviation worked on an SST dubbed the SUPER-Caravelle. That SST later became the Concorde. The last commercial flight of the Caravelle occured in 2004 in a 3rd world country. The safety rating of the Caravelle was considered good because it only crashed a few times.

Thanks for reading.

Smallbear wants a modern Syclone, local Maple Leafs spammer > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:31

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I fail to see poorly executed in anything about the Caravelle.

ttyymmnn > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:33

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I have read, and written, that United operated 20 Caravelles, no small number. And you can also make a strong argument that the Caravelle was somewhat of a game changer, as it set the style for the wildly successful DC-9 (and its derivatives), the Fokker 28 (and its derivatives), and other Russian designs. In fact, the Caravelle was only fully retired in 2004. That’s an almost 50-year run. Not bad for a Citroën.

Jcarr > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:33

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Little guy just wants to be a tail-dragger.

Margin Of Error > ttyymmnn 04/30/2015 at 15:38

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Thanks for the information, I will correct and fire my researcher right away.

ttyymmnn > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:40

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The Caravelle is one of my favorite planes. It’s design just screams of the ‘50s. It needs a champion, because by all accounts, it was a very successful aircraft. I like the analogy, though.

Margin Of Error > Jcarr 04/30/2015 at 15:41

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ah ! didn’t realized, thought it was taking off.

I need new glasses

Margin Of Error > ttyymmnn 04/30/2015 at 15:42

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I like the shape of the windows

McPherson > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:53

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“Bonjour and surprise, I’ll be your pilot today.”

ttyymmnn > McPherson 04/30/2015 at 15:56

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Pronounced “soopreeze”

ttyymmnn > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:59

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Caravelle dump! The nose may come from the Comet, but I think it bears a striking resemblance to the nose of the Boeing 787.

McPherson > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 15:59

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“Tell Sebastian Cabot to move up front.”

Hermann > Margin Of Error 04/30/2015 at 16:01

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If I was on the check-in area and someone told me “Hey, that’s the Citröen of the Sky we’re about to board” I’d turn around and leave.

Hermann > McPherson 04/30/2015 at 16:03

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“Only one person made it out alive from the horrific crash of the Madame de Gaule, and we got exclusive access to interview this survivor. Sir, what can you tell us about this accident?”

“It was a shock... really. I have been flying all my life. You always have this in your mind, thinking it might happen one day, and when it happens you’re never prepared for it... The onboard food was delicious.”

davet490 > Margin Of Error 02/14/2016 at 00:39

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I have fond memories flying as a passenger between Chicago and Toledo on United’s Caravelles in the late sixties. I have to admit I had apprehensions about flying on a “French” airplane at first. The thing that impressed me most was the incredibly smooth landings. I remember concentrating on feeling when the wheels hit the runway. The seats were very “roomy”. I did not feel like a sardine. I always looked forward to flying on the Caravelle and to this day it remains a noteworthy memory, and my favorite airliner.