The SNCASE S.E.2010 Armagnac was a large French airliner of the late 1940s built by SNCASE (Sud-Est). The aircraft's disappointing performance and range prevented it from achieving commercial success. Although the SNCASE Armagnac did not have a sterling career, its passenger compartment design gave it a much roomier feel and greater capacity and foreshadowed the future wide-body jet airliners. Designed originally around a French requirement for an 87-passenger, long range airliner issued in 1942, the S.E. 2000 was to have been powered by four 2,100 hp Gnome-Rhône 18R engines. At an early stage, the S.E. 2000 was abandoned in favour of a larger, more capable version, the S.E. 2010 Armagnac. The Armagnac was a cantilever mid-wing monoplane with retractable tricycle landing gear designed for transatlantic service. A number of versions were planned from a 60-passenger "sleeping berth" version to 84-passenger, 108-passenger and 160-passenger versions. After delays to the planning because of wartime conditions, work proceeded quickly at Toulouse, Marseilles and Paris, where various components were being built and tested. The Armagnac was designed from the outset in a Cook-Craigie production line prior to the first prototype which flew on 2 April 1949 with Sud-Est Chief Pilot Pierre Nadot at the controls but was lost on 30 January 1950 while still undergoing tests. The first production series aircraft F-BAVD flew on 30 December 1950. Examples of the S.E.2010 were demonstrated at the 1951 and 1953 Paris Grand Palais. Although the S.E.2010 was powered by Pratt & Whitney R-4360-B13 Wasp Major engines, the most powerful piston engine ever placed into production for aircraft use, a concern that the final design was underpowered led to a planned redesign. The final (15th) production aircraft was intended to be re-engined with 5,400 hp Allison T40 turboprops, but production was curtailed at eight and the more advanced version was never built. An Armagnac, S.O. 2060, ended its days as an engine test-bed, alternately fitted with turbojet engines fitted in a nacelle below the fuselage. It was tested with two Snecma Atar 101 turbojets each engine having a different system of afterburner. The Snecma Vulcain was also tested in a similar manner. For details of the operational history, click here.
