line was later established at Bourges. After an
eventual production run of some 425 planes,
the last Noratlas was constructed in 1961.
INTO SERVICE
The history of the freighter in French service
began in 1952 but there was an immediate
setback when the Nord 2501 prototype
crashed when undergoing further testing.
The programme ful lled its initial contract for
34 aircraft by June 25, 1953, and the Armée
de l’Air went on to order another 174, for a
total of 208.
These were initially dedicated cargo
aircraft, although ten were con gured for
passengers. The end of the eight-year
Algerian revolution in 1962 led to many
being converted to other roles. Of these
modi cations, the eight Nord Gabriels (an
electronic warfare platform) were used the
longest, and it was the last of this type that
was nally phased out in 1989 by the Armée
de l’Air.
Each transport unit was assigned its
allocation of Noratlas aircraft, including
l’École de l’Air at Salon-de-Provence Air
Base, which used them for multi-engined
pilot training and also as a support aircraft
for the French Air Force aerobatic team,
La Patrouille de France, then ying Fouga
Magister trainers. These aircraft were
regularly seen at airshows throughout
Europe during the 1960s and 1970s in
the support role. All French Air Force
Noratlases were operated in an overall
natural metal nish, apart from those with
the experimental establishments of CEAM
(Centre d’expérimentations Aériennes
Militaires) and CEV (Centre d’Essais en vol)
which had extensive orange dayglo painted
areas. Some aircraft received large nose
radomes for navigation training and were
designated N2501SNBs.
In 1976, a small number of aircraft
were painted in a two-tone brown desert
camou age for operations in Africa, but by
then the Noratlas withdrawal from service
had begun in 1973 with many stored at
Châteaudun. Some were scrapped late
in 1977.
The French Navy’s Aéronavale operated
a solitary N2504 Noratlas, tted with two
Turbomeca Marboré II auxiliary turbojet
engines mounted on the wingtips. Twenty-
four were ordered for anti-submarine warfaretraining, but only one was built, serial No.01,
based at St Raphaël.WEST GERMANY
The post-war newly-formed West Germany
had a similar predicament to France over
military transports and eventually ordered
186 Noratlases from 1956 onwards, of
which 25 were built in France, and the
other 161 manufactured in West Germany
by Flugzeugbau Nord under contract, and
designated N2501Ds. Of the total, only 173
were delivered.
These aircraft were mostly operated by
LTG.61 at Neubiberg, LTG.62 at Ahlhorn,
LTG.63 at Celle, WS-50 at Fürstenfeldbruck
and FFS-S, the training school at Wünsdorf.
Initially, all were delivered in an overall natural
metal nish with orange dayglo trim, but from
the early 1960s they were given grey/green
camou age, retaining orange dayglo areas.
Luftwaffe Noratlases were frequent visitors
to the UK, transporting troops into RAF St
Athan and Lyneham to participate in NATO
exercises on the Welsh ranges throughout the
1960s.
The Federal German Air Force was not
entirely happy with the Noratlas because
the eet was tted with four different setshttp://www.aviation-news.co.uk 65
A car is loaded into the rear of a Noratlas,
during a demonstration of the aircraft. Key
CollectionWest Germany received 173 N2501D transports, of these 161 were manufactured under contract at Hamburg Finkenwerder by Flugzeugbau Nord.
Peter R Foster