Development
At the end of World War II, the French Armée de l'Air was left with two primary transport aircraft: the Junkers Ju 52, built in France after the end of the war, and the Douglas C-47, received from US surplus. While both had given good service, they were no longer modern, and they suffered from a common set of flaws: tail-dragger landing gear which gave them a nose-up attitude when at rest, complicating cargo stowing; restrictive side-loading doors; and limited payload.
Accordingly, in 1947 Direction Technique Industrielle organized a design competition for medium-weight cargo aircraft offering great flexibility in use. Société Nationale de Construction Aéronautique du Nord (SNCAN) answered with the Nord 2500, while their competitors, Breguet and SNCASO, offered the BR-891R Mars and SO-30C respectively. The Nord 2500, with its rear-opening clamshell doors allowing ease of loading, was considered the most promising, and DTI ordered two prototypes on April 27, 1948.
The first prototype took to the air on September 10, 1949 powered by two Gnome-Rhône 14R engines of 1,600 hp driving 3-bladed variable pitch propellers, but it was found to be too slow for most applications. The second prototype replaced the 14Rs with two SNECMA-built Bristol Hercules 738/9 2,040 hp engines driving four-bladed propellers, and this model was rechristened the Nord 2501. DTI ordered 3 more preproduction Nord 2501s, which they flight-tested extensively against the similar Fairchild C-82 Packet. The N-2501 was found superior, and the first 34 were ordered on July 10, 1951.
After an eventual production run of some 425 planes, the last Noratlas was constructed in 1961.
Read more about this topic: Nord Noratlas
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