The Sud-Est SE 3120 Alouette (Lark) a three seat light helicopter was designed mainly for agricultural purposes. The first of two prototypes (F-WGGD and -WGGE) was flown on 31 July 1952, powered by a 149kW Salmson 9NH radial engine with an articulated three-blade rotor. Its rotor has three degrees of freedom: pitch, in-plane motion and vertical flapping. Pitch is controlled by means of a stabilizing gyroscope.
In July 1953, established a new international helicopter closed-circuit duration record of 13 hours 56 minutes. Two other prototypes followed, one of which was a three-seater.
It was the first of the successful Alouette family of helicopters.
The basic airframe of the Sud-Est SE-3120 Alouette was completely redesigned to take the 269kW Turbomeca Artouste II turboshaft, and the first of two prototypes, designated SE 3130, was flown on 12 March 1955.
Sud-Est SE.3120 Engine: 1 x Salmson 9NH, 150kW Main rotor diameter: 11.60m Length: 10.45m Max take-off weight: 1150kg Empty weight: 750kg Max speed: 125km/h Service ceiling: 4000m Range: 225km
After the Sud-Est SE.3101, followed the 2-seat SE.3110 (F-WFUE), which had a 200hp Salmson 9 NH piston engine.
The 1947 Sud-Est SE.3110 helicopter still relied on the twin-tail rotor system used in the experimental SE.3101, which acted against torque and for directional and longitudinal control, and an enclosed cabin seating two side-by-side.
Sud-Est SE.3110 Engine: 1 x Salmson 9NH, 150kW Main rotor diameter: 12m Length: 11.13m Max take-off weight: 950kg Empty weight: 670kg Max speed: 160km/h Cruising speed: 115km/h Rate of climb: 244m/min Service ceiling: 4500m Range: 300km
The first all-French helicopter to be designed and built after World War 2, SNCA du Sud-Est’s single-seat SE.3101 was powered by an 85hp Mathis engine and flew for the first time on 1 June 1948.
This experimental helicopter was to study the placing of auxiliary rotors intended simultaneously to provide torque correction and longitudinal control. Two rotors, with compressed wood blades 1.6m in diameter, were placed symmetrically at 45°, one on each side of a V-shaped beam at the end of the fuselage, which was made of soldered tubes without a skin covering. These variable-pitch airscrews enabled the aircraft to be steered by varying their pitch differentially.
There then followed the 2-seat SE.3110 (F-WFUE), which had a 200hp Salmson 9 NH piston engine.
SE.3101
Sud-Est SE.3101 Engine: 1 x Mathis 4GB 20, 82kW Main rotor diameter: 7.50m Length: 6.90m Max take-off weight: 520kg Empty weight: 400kg Max speed: 120km/h Cruising speed: 95km/h Service ceiling: 3000m Range: 100km
Pierre Satre began the SE-2300 design during World War II as a conventionally laid out, all metal, two seat, single engine cantilever monoplane, with tapered low wings having 4° of dihedral built around inverted U-section main and auxiliary spars. The wings had a centre section integral with the fuselage and two outer panels, all covered with electrically welded skin. There were plain flaps, with a maximum deflection of 40°.
The fuselage of the SE-2300 was constructed from four pre-formed panels welded together. A 140 hp (104 kW) Renault Bengali 4 four cylinder, inverted, air-cooled inline engine, fed from a fuselage tank, drove a two blade propeller. The over-wing cabin seated two side-by-side with dual controls. Behind these seats was space for a third (optional in the SE-2300 and standard in the SE-2310 variant) and baggage. There were access doors and rear view transparencies on both sides. At the rear, the tailplane was mounted at mid-fuselage and the fin and deep rudder were straight tapered except near the keel and almost triangular above the fuselage.
The first and only SE-2300 first flew on 26 October 1945 and had a fixed conventional undercarriage with oleo-pneumatic springing, faired main legs and wheels and a swivelling tailwheel. The two SE-2310s had tricycle undercarriages, the first unfaired but the second with faired legs and spats.
SE.2310
With a four seat version, the SE-2311 under development but unbuilt, the three seat SE-3010 was entered into a 1946 French Transport Ministry contest for a four seat tourist aircraft in February 1946. It was not successful, the award going to the Nord 1200 Norécrin and development of the SE-2300 series was abandoned. The last example remained in use until at least 1956 as a company hack.
SE-2300 Original version Engine: 140 kW (190 hp) Renault 4 Pei Propeller: 2-blade, 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) diameter wooden Wingspan: 10.13 m (33 ft 3 in) Wing area: 15.0 m2 (161 sq ft) Length: 7.40 m (24 ft 3 in) Height: 2.11 m (6 ft 11 in) Empty weight: 685 kg (1,510 lb) equipped Gross weight: 1,015 kg (2,238 lb) Maximum speed: 235 km/h (146 mph; 127 kn) Cruising speed: 212 km/h (132 mph; 114 kn) Range: 900 km (559 mi; 486 nmi) Service ceiling: 4,650 m (15,256 ft) Wing loading: 67 kg/m2 (14 lb/sq ft) Power/mass: 0.10 kW/kg (0.063 hp/lb) Landing speed: 75 km/h (47 mph; 40 kn) Landing distance: 300 m (985 ft) from 8 m (26 ft) with flaps down Seats: two or three conventional undercarriage.
SE-2310/11 Engine: 170 hp Regnier 4 L-00 LO-2 Three seats
SE-2310/111 Engine: 135 hp Regnier 4 faired undercarriage legs and wheels. Three seat
The Sud-Est or SNCASE SE-2100, sometimes known as the Satre SE-2100 after its designer, Pierre Satre, later the chief designer of the Concorde, at the end of World War II. An all-metal tailless, pusher configuration aircraft, it had a low, cantilever, straight tapered wing with 55° of sweep on the leading edge and 10.43° of dihedral. There were fixed leading edge slots and trailing edge ailerons but no conventional flaps. The wing tips carried large, rounded fins with rudder-like rear portions which only moved outwards; they were used differentially for yaw control and jointly as flaps.
The SE-2010 had a short, blunt nosed nacelle-type fuselage with a cabin which could be configured to seat one centrally or two in side-by-side, dual control configuration. The seats were just aft of the leading edge, with a baggage compartment behind them. Access was via deep, wide, forward hinged doors on both sides; to make this possible, a piece of the wing root leading edge was an integral part of each door. A 140 hp (104 kW) Renault Bengali 4 four cylinder, inverted, inline engine was mounted in pusher configuration behind the cabin and aircooled via a ventral scoop; it drove a two blade propeller positioned just behind the trailing edge. The SE-2100’s fixed, tricycle undercarriage had pneumatic shock absorbers and mainwheel brakes; the nosewheel was free-swivelling. At different times the undercarriage legs and wheels were unfaired or faired.
The only SE-2010 built flew for the first time on 4 October 1945 at Toulouse. The test pilot was Mr. Pierre Nadot (test pilot of the S.N.C.A.S.E.-Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est).
During the war, SNCASE worked on an autogyro known as the SE.700, which flew for the first time in 1945. This three-seater could take off from where it stood by changing the pitch of the rotor. The airscrew was also of the variable-pitch type.
This new helicopter, which was brought out as a product of Sud Aviation, first flew on 10 May 1957 (F-WIEA). It was introduced to the public during the French International Air Show at le Bourget soon afterwards. It basically an Alouette II with an Artouste engine, covered fuselage and executive cabin seating 5 occupants including the pilot, by the well-known expert Loewy.
Streamlining gave the Gouverneur improved cruising speed.
Both the main and the anti-torque rotor are taken from the Alouette, but to protect the latter, a bow-shaped tail skid is provided. Much thought has been given to making the Gouverneur’s cabin as comfortable as possible, particularly by means of sound-proofing.
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