Alpavia

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The Société Alpavia was a French aircraft construction company that manufactured sport aircraft under license in Gap Tallard between 1959 and 1966.

history

The French aircraft construction company Société Alpavia was founded in 1957 by the Belgian Comte Antoine d'Assche , who had earned his money in the oil industry, with the technical support of Felicien Noin. D'Assche set up the company in the French Alps at Gap Tallard airfield, halfway between Nice and Grenoble. Initially, d'Assche sold sport and gliders from various manufacturers through Alpavia. In 1957, a hangar for aircraft repairs was built in Gap Tallard with a joinery, a mechanical workshop and a paint shop.

Jodel D.117A (1959–1962)

When Lucien Querey's Société Aéronautique Normande (SAN) decided in 1958 to discontinue its production line for the licensed Jodel D.117 after 223 units had been built, d'Assche acquired the licensed building rights from SAN for Alpavia. Felicien Noin revised the design of the Jodel D.117. He equipped them with air brakes, a new landing gear fairing, a new cockpit and a revised bonnet. The design of the Jodel D.117 revised by Alpavia was given the designation D.117A.

In a short time, d'Assche managed to sell up to 10 Jodel D.117A. The license production of the Jodel D.117A began in Gap Tallard in 1959 with the serial number 1000. However, further sales of the obsolete D.117A were slow in the early 1960s. The D.117A production at Alpavia was therefore discontinued in 1962 after only 13 copies had been built.

Fournier RF-2 and RF-3 (1962–1965)

While looking for a successor model for the Alpavia production company, d'Assche met René Fournier in 1962 , whose first motor-glider design, the RF-1, had received much recognition from the French public since 1960. Fournier worked at that time with the Center Est Aéronautique of Pierre Robin in Dijon together and left there the pre-production of refined given by the French Civil Aviation Authority in order Fournier RF-2 build. Since Robin was at full capacity with the production of his Jodel Ambassadeur at the beginning of the sixties , there were repeated delays in the construction of the two Fournier aircraft. D'Assche therefore offered Fournier to complete the two aircraft that were already under construction at Alpavia in Gap Tallard. As early as May 1962, Fournier was able to take over the two aircraft for flight tests from Alpavia.

Fournier then gave Alpavia the license to build the series-ready RF-2 further development, Fournier RF-3 . The first RF-3 prototype built by Alpavia flew in Gap Tallard in March 1963. The type certification for the RF-3 was issued on June 7, 1963 by the French authorities. The first customer aircraft were delivered from November 1963. A total of 88 Fournier RF-3s were built in Gap Tallard between 1963 and 1966.

Sportavia-Pützer (1964–1966)

A marketing agreement for RF-3 aircraft in the German-speaking market had been in place between Alpavia and Alfons Pützer KG in Bonn since 1964 . With an RF-3 (D-KIKI, WNr. 32) built by Alpavia in 1964, Pützer obtained type certification in Germany. Since the production capacities in Gap Tallard were not sufficient for the demand and further growth on the small alpine airfield was not possible, d'Assche founded Sportavia-Pützer GmbH & Co KG in 1964 with Alfons Pützer in Germany , into which Pützer seine Pützer Flugzeugbau KG in Bonn, while Antoine d'Assche should move the RF-3 production from Gap Tallard to Dahlemer Binz. The RF-3 production in Gap Tallard was stopped in early 1966 after 88 machines were completed.

René Fournier had already started developing the RF-3 in Gap Tallard in 1965. In Gap Tallard, three prototypes were made under the designation Fournier RF-4 in early 1966 . In May 1966, the Alpavia plant in Gap Tallard was closed after a total of 106 aircraft had been built and the production facilities were transferred to Sportavia. The former Alpavia hangar in Gap Tallard was sold to the Center national d'études spatiales (French space agency), which later carried out experiments with altitude balloons in Gap Tallard. René Fournier relocated his development activities in 1966 from Gap Tallard near his birthplace near Tours to Nitray.

Alpavia sales organization (1966–1971)

After the closure of the production facility in Gap Tallard, Antoine d'Assche ran an Alpavia sales office in Paris, which took over the marketing of Fournier aircraft in the francophone-speaking area for Sportavia-Pützer. The Alpavia factory pilot Bernard Chaucreau set up an Alpavia delivery and service station at Guyancourt airfield, southwest of Paris. As a result of several changes in the exchange rate from DM to French francs, Sportavia aircraft were practically unsaleable in France from 1968 onwards. In 1968 D'Assche sold his Sportavia shares to Rhein-Flugzeugbau GmbH in Mönchengladbach. Alpavia remained active as a sales organization for Sportavia in France. However, Alpavia was only able to sell a few units of the follow-up model Fournier RF-5 in France. The lack of sales success led to the bankruptcy of Alpavia SA in Paris on February 15, 1971. Antoine d'Assche then withdrew completely from aviation. The service operation in Guyancourt was taken over by Continental Air Service.

Aircraft types

See also

literature

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ Aviation Magazine, No. 309, Oct. 1960, Alpavia
  2. ↑ Pilot, Aug 1988: The Avions Planeurs of Monsieur Fournier. Retrieved September 10, 2017 .
  3. ↑ Jane's All the World Aircraft , 1965-1966, Alpavia, pp. 31-32.
  4. ^ Paul Zöller: Fournier aircraft. 2017, ISBN 978-3-7460-4864-2