Page 60 - Aviation News (February 2020)

Breguet Alizé

M
Multirole Maritime Turbopropultirole Maritime Turboprop

The long-lived Alizé fulfi lled a similar function to the Fairey Gannet
for France’s aircraft carriers until it was retired in 2000.

One of the surviving examples of this charismatic
turboprop is being kept alive by a team of
volunteers in the south of France, as

Henri-Pierre Grolleau describes.

hen the Breguet Br.1050 felt that a new, more potent aircraft than The Marine Nationale gained approval to
Alizé retired, it signalled the the Avenger was required to protect the buy fi ve prototypes of the Alizé. This new
disappearance of an aircraft French carrier groups. Breguet o ered three-seat design proposed by Breguet and
Wthat had faithfully served the to use a hybrid confi guration with an powered by a Rolls-Royce Dart turboprop
Marine Nationale (French Navy) for more Armstrong-Siddeley Mamba turboprop was fi tted with a retractable radome for
than 40 years. This turboprop-powered in the nose combined with a Rolls- a search radar, which replaced the Nene
surveillance aircraft started its career as an Royce Nene turbojet mounted in the turbojet. The fi rst prototype of the Alizé (s/n
anti-submarine defender for a carrier group. tail, considerably boosting performance. 01) undertook its maiden fl ight on October
The genesis of the Alizé began in 1946 This awkward confi guration was tested 5, 1956 at Toulouse-Blagnac. In July 1957,
when the French naval air arm (Aéronavale) in the Br. 960 Vultur, which fi rst fl ew in the Marine Nationale ordered 75 Br.1050s
started looking at di erent indigenous and August 1951. Two Vultur prototypes were and the same year prototype 03 deployed
foreign options to replace the various types built, but the Aéronavale progressively to the Royal Aircraft Establishment at
then in service. The French needs evolved changed its requirement from a two- Bedford for catapult and arrested landing
progressively, but the advent of the anti- seat multi-role naval attack aircraft to a trials. The fi rst shipboard cat shots and traps
submarine Grumman Avenger purchased three-seat anti-submarine design. The were conducted on board the Royal Navy’s
in 1951 to supplement the Curtiss SB2C-5 fi rst Vultur prototype was transformed into aircraft carrier HMS Eagle in 1958.
Helldiver dive-bombers gave more time a boundary layer control system test- The fi rst production Alizé was delivered
to refi ne the requirement. The main threat bed while the second was modifi ed to on March 20, 1959. Aircraft destined for
perceived at the time came from Soviet demonstrate some of the features to be French service were numbered from 1 to
surface vessels and submarines and it was adopted on the new aircraft. 61, 64, 65, 68 to 70, 72 to 77, 80, 86 and

58 AVIATION NEWS FEBRUARY 2020

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