Aérospatiale Alouette II

what is it?

The Aérospatiale Alouette II (French pronunciation: [alwɛt], "lark"; company designations SE 313 and SA 318) is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first conventional production helicopter powered by a gas turbine engine instead of the heavier conventional piston powerplant. On 12 March 1955, the prototype SE 3130 performed its maiden flight.

🔎How to recognise it: 1 turboshaft engine · 10.2 m main rotor

base stats

• speed 185 km/htop speed
• range 565 kmwithout refuelling
• seats 4passengers
• size 1,600 kgmax take-off weight
• built 1,300made in total

Bars compare against all aircraft: 3,500 km/h, 20,000 km, 850 seats; size and number built on a log scale up to 640 t (An-225) and 45,000 built (Cessna 172).

fun facts

• 🎂First flew 71 years ago, in 1955.
• 🚗Rotor of 10.2 m: about 2 cars parked nose to tail.

turboshaft: A turbine that turns a shaft, usually a helicopter rotor.

spec sheet

first flight

1955-03-12

introduced

1957

number built

1,300

role

light helicopter

origin

🇫🇷 France

makers

Aérospatiale, Sud-Aviation

engines

1× Turbomeca Artouste IIC6

crew

1

passengers

4

length

9.7 m

rotor diameter

10.2 m

height

2.8 m

max take-off weight

1,600 kg

top speed

185 km/h

cruise speed

170 km/h

range

565 km

ceiling

2,300 m

Specs are for the version in the Wikipedia article's specification section. Blank means the sources don't say.

family