View source for SNCASE SE.3120 Alouette

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{{Infobox aircraft
|name=SE.3120 Alouette
|image=
|caption=
|type=Utility helicopter
|national_origin=France
|manufacturer=[[SNCASE]]
|designer=
|first_flight=31 July 1951
|introduction=
|retired=
|status=Prototypes only
|primary_user=
|more_users=
|produced=
|number_built=2
|variants=
}}
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 [[SNCASE SE.3110|SE.3110]], the Alouette shared that machine's dynamic components, with the exception of the SE.3110's unusual twin [[tail rotor]], which was replaced by a single rotor, and the addition of a three-bladed gyroscopic stabiliser under the main rotor (similar to the stabiliser bar used by [[Bell Aircraft|Bell]] helicopters. The Alouette featured an open-framework [[fuselage]] behind a [[cockpit]] that was enclosed by a [[bubble canopy]]. Skid [[Landing gear|undercarriage]] and [[tricycle gear]] were both tested.<ref name="fana500p789">{{harvnb|de Narbonne|2011|pp=78–79}}</ref>
The first flight took place on 31 July 1951 at [[Buc, Yvelines]] with test pilot Henri Stakenburg at the controls.<ref name="fana500p79">{{harvnb|de Narbonne|2011|p=79}}</ref> On 2 July 1953, [[Jean Boulet]] flew one of the two prototype Alouettes to a world closed-circuit distance record for a [[helicopter]] in this class, covering {{convert|1,252|km|mi|abbr=on}} in 13 hours and 56 minutes.<ref name="fana500p79"/><ref name="JAWA53 p151"/> Despite this impressive performance, the Alouette proved to be difficult to maintain, with its obsolete Salmson engine not being powerful enough, and with work on the [[turbine]]-powered [[Aérospatiale Alouette II|Alouette II]] (an unrelated design) already underway, development of the Alouette was soon abandoned.<ref name="fana500p79"/>
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==Specifications==
{{Aircraft specs
|ref=Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1953–54<ref name="JAWA53 p151">{{harvnb|Bridgman|1953|p=151}}</ref>
|prime units?=met
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General characteristics
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|genhide=
|crew=1
|capacity=2 passengers
|length m=10.45
|length ft=
|length in=
|dia m=<!-- airships etc -->
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|width m=<!-- if applicable -->
|width ft=<!-- if applicable -->
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|height m=2.90
|height ft=
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|empty weight kg=750
|empty weight lb=
|gross weight kg=1250
|gross weight lb=
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Powerplant
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|eng1 number=1
|eng1 name=[[Salmson 9 (air cooled engine)|Salmson 9NH]]
|eng1 type=9-cylinder air-cooled [[radial engine]]
|eng1 kw=<!-- prop engines -->
|eng1 hp=200<!-- prop engines -->
|power original=
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|rot number=1<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia m=11.60<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia ft=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot dia in=<!-- helicopters -->
|rot area sqm=105.7<!-- helicopters -->
|rot area sqft=<!-- helicopters -->
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Performance
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|perfhide=
|max speed kmh=
|max speed mph=125
|max speed kts=
|cruise speed kmh=<!-- if max speed unknown -->
|cruise speed mph=<!-- if max speed unknown -->
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|range km=
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|endurance=2{{frac|1|4}} hr<!-- if range unknown -->
|ceiling m=4000
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|g limits=<!-- aerobatic -->
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|climb rate ms=
|climb rate ftmin=885
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|similar aircraft=<!-- similar or comparable aircraft -->
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==References==
{{Reflist}}
* {{cite book |last=Bridgman |first=Leonard |author-link=Leonard Bridgman |title=Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1953–54 |year=1953 |location=London |publisher= Jane's All the World's Aircraft Publishing Co. Ltd.}}
* {{cite magazine |last=de Narbonne |first=Roland |title=Juillet 1951, dans l'aéronautique française: Une alouette...fait quelque fois le printemps |magazine= Le Fana de l'Aviation |date=July 2011 |issue=504 |pages=74–79 |language=fr}}
==External links==
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20061110133558/http://www.eurocopter.com/site/FO/scripts/siteFO_contenu.php?lang=EN&noeu_id=44&arbo=1&page_id=636 Eurocopter website]
* [http://www.aviafrance.com/2569.htm aviafrance.com]
{{Alouette family}}
{{SNCASE aircraft}}
[[Category:1950s French civil utility aircraft]]
[[Category:1950s French helicopters]]
[[Category:Aircraft first flown in 1951]]
[[Category:SNCASE aircraft|Alouette]]
[[Category:Single-engined piston helicopters]]