Caudron C.630 Simoun

Caudron C.630 Simoun
Land	Frankrijk
Role	Verbindingsvliegtuigen
Introductie	1935
Geproduceerd	Jaren 1930

De Caudron Simoun was een Franse vierzits toervliegtuig uit de jaren 1930. Het werd gebruikt als postvliegtuig door Air Bleu, vloog recordbrekende langeafstandsvluchten en werd ook gebruikt als verbindingsvliegtuig door de Armée de l'Air tijdens de Tweede Wereldoorlog. Het vliegtuig werd later gebruikt als inspiratie voor de beroemde Mooney "M-serie" vliegtuigen door Jacques "Strop" Carusoam.

Bron: Caudron C.630 Simoun op Wikipedia

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Fotograaf	Meindert van Vreeze
Lokalisatie	Onbewust
Foto 's	40

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The Art of French Aerodynamics

De Caudron C.630 Simoun was a masterpiece of 1930s French design. Created by Marcel Riffard, the genius behind Caudron’s world-beating racing planes, the Simoun (“Desert Wind”) brought racing performance to the luxury touring market. It was a sleek, wooden monoplane that combined high speed with an incredibly stylish cabin. While it began as a plaything for the wealthy and a high-speed mail plane for Air Bleu, it is best remembered today as the aircraft of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry, providing the real-life inspiration for the survival story in The Little Prince.

Attribute	Technical Specification (C.630/C.635)
Role	Luxury Tourer / Mail Plane / Liaison
Bemanning	1 or 2
Capaciteit	Up to 3 Passengers
First Flight	October 1934
Krachtbron	1 × Renault Bengali 6Q inverted 6-cylinder inline
Horsepower	180–220 hp (depending on variant)
Maximum Speed	190 mph (310 km/h)
Bereik	930 miles (1,500 km)

Design Highlights: Racing Bloodlines

Advanced Wooden Construction: The Simoun used a spruce and birch plywood skin, meticulously sanded and lacquered to a mirror-like finish. This resulted in an exceptionally “clean” surface that minimized aerodynamic drag.
Variable-Pitch Propeller: The Simoun was one of the first production aircraft to feature a Ratier variable-pitch propeller. In a quirky piece of engineering, the mechanism was pressurized on the ground using a common bicycle pump before takeoff.
Full-Span Flaps: To manage the high landing speeds inherent in its sleek, low-drag design, Riffard incorporated trailing-edge flaps that occupied almost the entire span of the wings, allowing it to land safely on the grass airfields of the 1930s.
Streamlined “Spats”: The main landing gear was fixed but entirely enclosed in elegant aerodynamic fairings (spats), a signature look of the Golden Age of Aviation.

Record Flights & Literary Legacy

Saint-Exupéry’s Mirage: In December 1935, author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry crashed his Simoun (F-ANRY) in the Libyan Desert while attempting a record flight from Paris to Saigon. He and his mechanic survived for days on almost no water before being rescued—an experience he immortalized in Wind, Sand and Stars En The Little Prince.
Air Bleu Mail Service: The Simoun was the backbone of France’s first high-speed domestic airmail service. Painted in a striking light blue with a silver arrow, these aircraft achieved record-breaking delivery times between Paris and cities like Bordeaux and Strasbourg.
The Military “M” Version: When WWII began, hundreds of Simouns (C.635M) were requisitioned by the French Air Force for liaison and training. Several were even captured and used by the Luftwaffe, where German generals reportedly preferred their comfort over the standard Messerschmitt Bf 108.
Global Traveler: Simouns were used for ambitious raids to Tokyo and across the South Atlantic, proving that a “touring limousine” could hold its own against dedicated long-range record breakers.