page_title: Aérospatiale Alouette II
section_title: Development
hierarchical_section_title: Aérospatiale Alouette II / Development
caption_attribution_description: English: A right side view of a West German Aerospatiale Alouette II helicopter patrolling the East German border
context_page_description: The Aérospatiale Alouette II is a French light helicopter originally manufactured by Sud Aviation and later Aérospatiale. It was the first production helicopter powered by a gas turbine engine instead of the heavier conventional piston powerplant.
  On 12 March 1955, the prototype SE 3130 performed its maiden flight. The Alouette II was a widely used type and popular with operators, with over 1,300 rotorcraft eventually being constructed between 1956 and 1975. The type was predominantly used for military purposes in observation, photography, air-sea rescue, liaison and training, but it has also carried anti-tank missiles and homing torpedoes. As a civilian helicopter, the Alouette II has been used for casualty evacuation, crop-spraying and as a flying crane, with a 500-kilogram external underslung load.
  A high-altitude derivative, the SA 315B Lama, was developed and entered operational service in July 1971. The Alouette II also was further developed into the larger and more powerful Alouette III. In 1975, production of the type was terminated, having been effectively succeeded by these newer rotorcraft.
context_section_description: Although Sud-Est's previous helicopter design, the SE 3120 Alouette, broke helicopter speed and distance records in July 1953, it was too complex an aircraft to market successfully. With the records falling, the French government started showing interest, but with their financial backing, the state gave an ultimatum that within two years a helicopter had to be in production, otherwise all rotary wing activities would cease. SNCASE came up with seven helicopter designs powered by turboshaft engines: X.310A – X.310G. Earlier Joseph Szydlowski, the founder of Turbomeca, had successfully managed to develop the Artouste, a 260 hp (190 kW) single shaft turbine engine derived from his Orédon turbine. The X.310G design was chosen and, together with the Artouste engine, was fast-tracked towards production as the SE 3130 Alouette II.
  On 12 March 1955, the prototype SE 3130 performed its maiden flight; within three months, on 6 June, a pre-production Alouette II, flown by Jean Boulet, established a new helicopter altitude record of 8,209 m (26,932 ft). According to the manufacturer, such early demonstrations of the Alouette II had served to promote the performance and advantages of turbine helicopters over their piston-engined counterparts.
  In April 1956, the first production Alouette II was completed, making it the first production turbine-powered helicopter in the world. Upon completion, several of the initial production models were dispatched for a series of evaluation flights in the Alps. On 13 June 1958, a single SE 3130, again flown by Boulet, re-took the altitude record, reaching a height of 10,984 m (36,027 ft). In 1975, production of the Alouette II ended after more than 1,300 had been built; in 1969, a new high-altitude variant, the Aérospatiale SA 315B Lama had been developed to replace it in this niche capacity. A slightly larger and more powerful helicopter in the form of the Aérospatiale Alouette III has also entered production, which had negatively impacted upon the demand for the older II model.
caption: A West German Alouette II patrolling the border with East Germany, 1985
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