TERRY SMITH takes us through the history of The Caravelle.
The Caravelle prototype, the X210, made its maiden flight on May 27th, 1955. It was the French entry into the new-born first-generation passenger jets alongside the De Havilland Comet and Boeing’s 707. The French government laid out requirements that it was to carry a minimum of 65 passengers and an additional 1000 kilos of cargo, whilst also achieving a range of 1,200 miles at 350-plus miles per hour.
A period advert showing the Sud-Aviation Carevelle in service with Air France, showing the plane's unique triangular window.
Designed by Sud-Aviation, it was the first jet transport to establish engine pods on the rear fuselage although at conception, no engine specifications were given as the French did not have a suitable jet to power the plane. The initial plans of the plane featured three engines but it was cut down to two Rolls Royce Avon RA26s on the X210 prototype that first flew in 1955, which was christened by Madame de Gaulle. A further prototype flew a year later, which was what is now known as the Caravelle. Orders were taken from both Air France and SAS.
Taking delivery at the same time as Air France in 1959 was the Scandinavian carrier SAS, with the likes of Swiss Air soon following suit.
The engines were not the only thing the UK had input on; besides the engines, the nose and the area of the cockpit ahead of the front doors were a copy of the Comet, which was licensed from de Havilland. One of the important design elements from Sud was the triangular windows. These were smaller than ovals but provided the same downward view. The smaller windows were a response from the lessons learned from the Comet’s cabin pressure fatigue incidents. The plane would be awarded its airworthiness certificate in 1959, with Air France and SAS receiving their first aircraft shortly thereafter.
The pilots eye view of the Caravelle’s cockpit, such a contrast from today's modern airliners such as the Airbus A320.
The Caravelle 1 would be able to carry 80 passengers and crew. Air France immediately began using these planes on its Paris-Rome-Athens-Istanbul route, followed by London–Paris, with twenty of the Caravelle 1 being produced. Like many aircraft types, further marks were stretched and better engines were offered.
The interior of the Caravelle - a nice place to sit for short to medium distance flights.
As well as the French and Scandinavian carriers, many other European Airlines followed suit in purchasing these aircraft and for years it was the main type flown by Swiss Air for use on their continental routes. It also found much favour operating in Africa, but perhaps a missed opportunity was in the US where initially both United and TWA placed an order for 20 each for their internal routes. United took theirs, but unfortunately for Sud, TWA then cancelled their order in favour of the Douglas DC-9. United retired their Caravelle fleet by 1973.
A breaking chute was fitted on the earlier versions of the aircraft as it did not feature reverse thrusting. I can only imagine they were used on very short runways.
Sud Aviation went on to build a total of 282 Caravelles. Production ended in 1972 with the Caravelle 12, which could carry 140 passengers and was powered by Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbo fan engines. It was the first of its class and it set the standard for medium-range jets and had a global effect on how we travelled.
This plan shows how the plane developed from carrying 80 to 140 passengers. Its amazing what a change in engines and a little stretching can do.
It served well in Europe, it was the basis for the US medium range fleets and flew the longest in Africa where it was still in service until 2005. While there are none in airworthy condition today there is hope we might see a Caravelle fly in the future with the Caravelle Club, based in Stockholm owning a fully functioning, but not yet flying, Caravelle III which they saved from being a fire school trainer.
While there a few Caravelles left on display around the world, none are currently airworthy. Hopefully this will change one day when this operational Finnair liveried version based at Stockholm is allowed in the air again.
The Caravelle was also going to be used as part of the name of a new supersonic aircraft being developed by Sud-Aviation in the late 1950s. The Super-Caravelle was the name given to the aircraft that eventually became the UK/French joint venture that became the BAC-Sud Concorde.