Air France et Caravelle

The history of the birth and entry into service of Caravelle is all the more remarkable given that this French civil aircraft program was born in a country in ruins facing enormous financial difficulties and chronic political instability. Yet it was in this context that the Secretary General for Civil and Commercial Aviation, René Lemaire, decided in October 1951 to launch the study of a medium-haul jet aircraft. A year later, the official services retained the X210 project from the manufacturer SNCASE, which later became SUD-AVIATION.
Very quickly interested in this innovative aircraft, Air France placed its first order eight months after the flight of the prototype. Following the short period of use of the DE HAVILLAND 106 "COMET" four-jet engine, the company then definitively entered the "jet" era ...
Caravelle design and technical innovations, motivation for the choice of aircraft, commissioning and network, marketing and communication, crew training and operation, use by sister and associated companies, withdrawal from service and surviving aircraft: we have made every effort to cover a wide variety of areas in order to fully reflect the richness and importance of the history of this aircraft in the Air France saga.