Page 63 - Aviation News (February 2020)

These aircraft, serial routinely found
numbers 56 and when the Alizé was
59, were the ones operational and the
considered to be in French Navy had
the best shape after developed specifi c
many years of open- ways to tackle it.
air storage in Nîmes- This know-how
Garons. Alizé Marine is kept alive today
had also secured within the Alizé
a huge amount of Marine team.
spares and a number
of Rolls-Royce Dart ISSUES TO
engines, including SOLVE
some that had not The major sub-
fl own since coming components
out of overhaul. The – landing gear,
Atelier Industriel arresting hook,
Aéronautique (AIA), radome, radar and
the depot which engine – were
handled all Alizé third-line inspections, The Alizé was able to take o from French all removed from the airframe to allow
provided outstanding support, helping carriers without using the catapult, although all the structure to be closely inspected.
it was used here – note the launch bridle at
source precious spares inventories. Eric Nevers, one of the engineers, then
the end of the cat track. Henri-Pierre Grolleau
overhauled the hydraulic systems,
ALIZÉS 56 AND 59 project and were willing to help. The Marine methodically checking the various
Alizé Marine engineers began working on Nationale also provided tooling and lifting components including the pumps that
the aircraft in Nîmes-Garons under the gear as and when required. operate the landing gear and the tailhook.
leadership of Patrice Bats, a very experienced The fi rst hurdle to overcome was the The radome and the doors of the weapons
ex-navy engineer who had spent years strict French regulations on asbestos. This bay have been made fully operable again, a
working on the Alizé during his career in the problem in the hangar was quickly cleared, good thing for airshow displays.
military. Patrice had managed to gather a however, and the engineers soon turned As is often the case with such projects,
team of former navy specialists who had all their attention to the airframe. Although issues did appear and had to be solved.
the required skills to handle the project. the aircraft had been kept in open storage According to Jean-Jacques Jourdan, an
They fi rst surveyed the two aircraft for quite a while, very little corrosion was electrician/avionics specialist by trade,
to determine which one was in the best found. The engineers had been worried the Alizé’s cockpit and electrical systems
condition. As it turned out, s/n 59 proved that the aircraft’s main spar could have proved to be the most complicated to bring
to be in a slightly better shape than its been damaged by corrosion, but their fear back to original condition, requiring a lot
counterpart. Work started in earnest to proved unfounded, perhaps helped by of attention from engineers. They rapidly
overhaul it, with 56 serving as a reserve for the fact that the Nîmes area in the south came to the conclusion that the aircraft’s
spares. The French Navy was extremely of France is blessed with dry weather all alternator and generator, which were in
supportive of the project, o ering to year round. According to engineer Serge bad condition, had to be replaced by better
accommodate aircraft 59 in one of its Penlec, some corrosion was found on the ones from the spares inventory. All electrical
hangars at Nîmes-Garons. A lot of naval air cockpit fl oor, in the tailhook compartment circuits linked to the weapons were cut
station personnel were fascinated by the and on the radome. Such corrosion was and the radar antenna was put back into

The pilot’s instrument panel remained decidedly analogue even through several upgrade programmes. Henri-Pierre Grolleau

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