page_title: Transall C-160
section_title: First-generation production
hierarchical_section_title: Transall C-160 / Variants / First-generation production
caption_attribution_description: English: Turkish Air Force Transall C-160D (code 69-033) lands at the 2008 Royal International Air Tattoo, RAF Fairford, Gloucestershire, England. This is the support aircraft for the Turkish Stars aerobatic team and so is in their colours. A B-1 and B-52 are in the background. Taken at RIAT Fairford on the Thursday before the weekend show days. Later both show days (Saturday and Sunday) were cancelled because of waterlogged car parks. Photographed by Adrian Pingstone in July 2008 and placed in the public domain.
context_page_description: The Transall C-160 is a military transport aircraft, produced as a joint venture between France and Germany. "Transall" is an abbreviation of the manufacturing consortium Transporter Allianz, comprising the companies of MBB, Aerospatiale, and VFW-Fokker. It was initially developed to meet the requirements for a modern transport aircraft for the French and German Air Forces; export sales were also made to South Africa and to Turkey, as well as a small number to civilian operators.
  The C-160 remains in service more than 50 years after the type's first flight in 1963. It has provided logistical support to overseas operations and has served in specialist roles such as an aerial refueling tanker, electronic intelligence gathering, and as a communications platform.
  The C-160 is expected to be replaced in French and German service by the Airbus A400M Atlas.
context_section_description: The initial production run of 169 aircraft were built by the three companies in France and Germany; Nord built 56 aircraft, VFW built 57 aircraft and HFB/MBB 56 (HFB became part of Messerchmitt-Bolkow-Blohm in 1969 during the production run). All three production lines produced a mixture of aircraft for France and Germany but the South African aircraft were all built by Nord.
  C-160D
  Production aircraft for the West German Air Force; 110 were built. Twenty of these aircraft were delivered to Turkish Air Force in 1971 as C-160T. A few of the remaining German C-160 were fitted with the self-protection suite called ESS.
  C-160F
  Production aircraft for the French Air Force; 50 were built.
  C-160P
  Conversion of four C-160Fs for use by the French Postal Service.
  C-160Z
  Production aircraft for the South African Air Force; nine were built.
caption: Turkish Air Force Transall C-160D lands at RIAT 2008. This is the support aircraft for the Turkish Stars aerobatic team
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