Design and Development
in 1945, the French military wanted to create paratrooper divisions, but quickly found that they did not have any aircraft that could be used for this purpose. So, General Juin, the then chief of staff, ordered the Direction Technique Industrielle to evaluate the interest for this project. SNCAC and Breguet Aviation answered positively and the SNCAC NC.210 was selected in December 1945 when a contract for 105 aircraft was awarded to SNCAC.
The NC.211 originated as the NC.210 powered by four 1,641 kW (2,200 hp) Gnome-Rhône 18R 18-cylinder radial engines. With a change of engine type to the 1,193 kW (1,600 hp) Gnome-Rhône 14R the designation changed to NC.211. Intended to provide the French Air Force, (French: Armée de l'Air (ALA), literally Army of the Air), with strategic transport and paratrooping capability the Cormoran was a large four-engined aircraft with a double-deck fuselage, high-set wing and tricycle undercarriage. Constructed largely of light-alloys with stressed skins and steel high stress components the Cormoran had a conventional tail unit with tailplane attached to the extreme rear of the fuselage and fin also. The cockpit was situated forward of the wing leading edge above the forward fuselage which also had large clamshell doors to the 150 m3 (5,297 cu ft) lower deck cargo compartment. Passengers, paratroops and stretchers were to have been carried in both the lower cabin and the upper cabin, which was on the same level as the cockpit aft of the wing. The retractable twin-wheeled undercarriage legs retracted into the rear of the inboard engine nacelles and the underside of the forward fuselage.
Read more about this topic: SNCAC NC 211
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