GP025 SE 313 ALOUETTE 2

Aerospatiale Alouette II was a light, multi-role French-made helicopter. A prototype flight took place in 1955, and the machine entered production in 1957. Over 1,300 helicopters of this type, of all versions, were built in its course. The drive, in the basic version, was provided by a single engine Turbomeca Artouste IIC6 with 530 hp. The total length of the helicopter was 9.66 meters with a main rotor diameter of 10.2 meters. The Aerospatiale Alouette II was actually created as a kind of development of the very successful, but also technologically advanced SE3120 Alouette helicopter. Compared to its predecessor, it was characterized primarily by a simplified design, allowing the helicopter to start serial production and the use of a new power unit. Incidentally, it can be added that this drive unit was developed by an engineer of Polish origin - Józef Szydłowski, one of the founders of the Turbomeca company. Series-produced Alouette II machines were characterized, as at the end of the 1950s, by great performance, considerable reliability and proved to be very useful - both in the civil and military service. It is worth adding that the Aerospatiale Alouette II was one of the basic helicopters of the military aviation of the armed forces of France and of the Federal Republic of Germany in the 1950s and 1960s. It was also exported to countries such as Austria, Belgium, Sweden and Switzerland.