A Sample Feature From Aviation News

The Transall C.160

Above: To extend the reach of the Transall, the current C.160 NG has a probe and can take fuel from C.160 tankers such as the example on the left operated by ET 2/64 ‘Anjou’. (Photo, Benoit Colin via author).

Despite being outshone and outsold by the C-130 Hercules, the Transall C.160 has proved to be a very capable tactical airlifter. Still providing the backbone of French and German military air transport, as well as having been used by other operators, the C.160 keeps plying its trade more than 38 years after its entry into service. It has also lead to even more discrete C.160 G Gabriel ELINT/SIGINT and C.160 H Astarté TACAMO variants. René J Francillon records the service history of this capable airlifter and its hush-hush offshoots.

In the mid-fifties, the primary tactical transport aircraft of the Armée de l’Air and the Luftwaffe were Nord 2501 Noratlas while the Aeronautica Militare Italiana relied principally on Fairchild C-119Gs. Both of these twin radial-engined types were of twin-boom/centre fuselage pod configuration with truckbed height cabin floor and aft vehicle loading ramp. These look-alikes differed in their load carrying capability with the Noratlas lifting 45 troops or 10,281lb (4,673kg) of cargo while the larger and more powerful C-119G carried 62 troops or 30,000lb (13,608kg) of cargo. It was to find a common turbine-powered replacement for these aircraft that France, Germany, and Italy issued a joint requirement in June 1958. However, as by then the transport wings of the Luftwaffe were just getting fully operational with their Noratlas and the AMI did not have the budgetary resource to acquire nearly simultaneously F-104s and new tactical transports, progress was initially slow. Moreover, Italy soon dropped out as it was under considerable pressure from Lockheed to select the C-130 Hercules while Fiat lobbied effectively for the development of what eventually became the G.222.

Above: The French-built prototype which first flew on February 25, 1963. It received German-style markings. (Photo, Av News).

The first concrete step toward the development of a Franco-German tactical transport was taken in January 1959 when a joint company, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Transall, was set up by two German companies and one French company: Hamburger Fahrzeugbau GmbH, Weser Flugzeugbau GmbH, and Nord-Aviation. Fifteen months after that event, the launch customers detailed their requirements as follows: (1) maximum payload, 35,000lb (16 tonnes); (2) maximum speed, at least 310 mph (500km/h); (3) radius of action, 750 miles (1,200km), including 190 miles (300km) at low level with a load of 17,600lb (8 tonnes); (4) ferry range, 2,810 miles (4,500km); and (5) take-off distance, 1,970ft (600m) when operating from semi-prepared fields. Development costs were to be shared equally by France and Germany. Nevertheless, with the Luftwaffe planning to take up twice as many aircraft as the Armée de l’Air, responsibility for production and final assembly was tilted in favour of German companies.

As finalised, the design and production agreement provided for the lead company—Weser Flugzeugbau which in December 1963 merged with Focke-Wulf to form VFW—to be responsible for the main fuselage and tail section. Hamburger Fahrzeugbau, which became part of Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm in May 1969, handled the cockpit and forward fuselage. Nord-Aviation, absorbed into SNIAS Aérospatiale in January 1970, got the wings. Rolls-Royce Tyne turboprop engines were to be built under licence by MTU in Germany in association with Hispano-Suiza (later SNECMA) in France, and FN in Belgium. Their Hawker Siddeley Dynamics constant-speed propellers were to be licence-built by Ratier Figeac in France. Final assembly was to be undertaken by Hamburger/MBB at Finkenwerder south of Hamburg, Nord-Aviation/Aérospatiale at Bourges in central France, and Weser/VFW at Lemwerder south-west of Bremen.

A trying youth

‘A camel is a horse designed by a committee.’ The Transall C.160 almost became that proverbial camel as it pioneered co-operative programmes between European manufacturers long before the European Union became a reality. The programme was cumbersome as three manufacturers each had design responsibility for their share of the airframe. Although the lead firm was supposed to be Weser Flugzeugbau, it was Nord-Aviation which provided the senior project engineer, Serge Faucon, and most of the flight test personnel. Moreover, with France and Germany having fought three bloody wars in the preceding 90 years and having rather different project management styles, misunderstandings and delays initially abounded. By successfully overcoming these difficulties, the Transall team did much to clear the path for Airbus Industrie.

One of the first challenges facing the programme was what to call the joint venture and the aircraft. In the end, the name Transall was derived from the German Transporter Allianz (Transport Alliance) while the C.160 designation stood for Cargo and the aircraft’s wing area in square metres: 1,722.2ft2 (160m2). Next was how to number the three prototypes (one from each manufacturer) and six service trial aircraft (two from each manufacturer). Even though the first prototype was to be French-built, it was agreed that it would receive a German-style Versuchmuster (Evaluation specimen) designation as C.160 V1 and the German D-9507 registration assigned by the Materialprüfstelle der Bundeswehr für Luftfahrtgerät. The next two flying prototypes would be V2 D-9508 and V3 D-9509 while the static and dynamic test airframes would respectively be V4 and V5. Conversely, the service trials aircraft would be numbered in the French pré-série (pre-production) style C.160 A01 through A06.

Completed by Nord-Aviation in its hangar at the Melun-Villaroche test site, C.160 V1 was first flown there on February 25, 1963, by a French test crew under the command of Jean Lanvario. More than a foot of snow on the ground led the pilot to take the precautionary measure of not activating the gear. Once airborne, an imbalance in the activation mechanism prevented flap retraction. In other respects, the 55-minute maiden flight and the three that followed went well. However, the aircraft was damaged before its fifth flight during ground tests requested by Hawker Siddeley which was concerned with possible stress on its large propellers when operating in strong cross-wind conditions. Artificial cross-wind was generated by running at full power the R-2800 radial engines of a Nord 2508 parked perpendicularly to the runway. The Hawker Siddeley propellers withstood the maelstrom without problems but one of the VFW-designed stabilisers failed and was bent 20°! Following repairs, V1 was returned to flight status. It was transferred to the Centre d’essais en vol (CEV, Flight Test Center) at Istres-Le Tubé on May 2, 1963, for official trials and, alongside the second prototype, was first shown to the public at the Paris Air Show during the following month. During ‘hot-and-high’ tests at Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, in May-June 1964, an engine had to be replaced and the main gear partially collapsed delaying test completion and forcing a change of venue to Djibouti. In March 1966, this aircraft flew to Vidsel in Sweden for cold weather trials. Finally, after a test career lasting seven more years, the first Transall prototype ended as a maintenance trainer with the French AF at the Rochefort training school.

French-led test crews made the first flight of the VFW-assembled C.160 V2 at Bremen on May 25, 1963, and that of the HFB-assembled V3 at Hamburg on February 19, 1954. Both of these German-built prototypes joined V1 at the CEV for French and German flight tests prior to being used for military trials at the Centre d’expérimentations aériennes militaires (CEAM, Military Air Proving Center) in Mont-de-Marsan from June 1964. Significant non test-related activities during that period included the use of V2 and V3 to transport the second and third stages for the ill-fated European Launcher Development Organisation (ELDO) Europa from France and Germany to RAAF Woomera, SA, Australia, in January 1966. A similar flight was made by C.160 V1 in August 1967 with the return trip being used for unfruitful demonstration flights in Australia, Indonesia, and Thailand.

Trials with the three prototypes had revealed early on the need for some significant redesign as the de-icing system, flight controls, and handling characteristics had proved unsatisfactory. Consequently, the de-icing system and flight controls were entirely redesigned, the sweep of the wing leading edge was increased outboard of the engine nacelles, and the forward fuselage was lengthened 1ft 7.7in (50cm). All these modifications were included in the six service trial machines, the first of which, Nord-assembled C.160 A01, getting airborne on May 21, 1965. The last, HFB-assembled A06, first flew on April 20, 1966. The initial production aircraft, VFW-built C.160 F1, first flew on April 13, 1967.

With the modifications incorporated in these six aircraft proving fully satisfactory during test and evaluation at the CEV and CEAM in France, and with Erprobungsstelle 61 (ESt 61) at Manching in Germany, the C.160 was at last ready for service use. The first operational aircraft, was delivered to ET 1/61 ‘Touraine’ at Orléans-Bricy on November 22, 1967. It had taken 57 months since the first flight of V1 to reach this stage whereas Lockheed had put C-130A into operation only 27 months after the maiden flight of the YC-130. (Since then, Lockheed Martin has not done quite so well with its C-130J).

Above: One of a number of special colour schemes applied to Transalls over the years was this example to mark 500,000hr by the Armeé de l’Air fleet over 20 years. (Photo via author).

For the rest of this feature please see the January 2006 issue.