Historical

historical

 

1945 - 1967 : aviation context and European projects

 

In the aftermath of the Second World War, the global aviation industry is dominated by the United States . Douglas , Boeing and Lockheed have benefited from important American war effort between 1939 and 1945 and produced a large amount of military equipment including four-engined piston passengers civilian versions ( DC-6 , Boeing 377 , Constellation, etc.). enjoying great commercial success. The arrival of the era of turbo lance jet and newer devices (DC- 8, Boeing 707 , Boeing 720 ) dominate the aviation market . In Europe, the infrastructure of the aviation industry were partly destroyed during the war but quickly resumed production and the first aircraft equipped with turbojet engines ( Sud Aviation Caravelle , Trident Hawker Siddeley , Vickers VC10 , BAC 1 - 11 British Aircraft Corporation, etc. ) out in the 1950s . But they did not meet the same success as their American competitors are selling less and fail to penetrate the U.S. market .

 

Sud Aviation Caravelle colors Tunisair

In the 1960s , mass air travel is booming and a study of the FAA provides a tripling of traffic between 1965 and 1971 for a market that totaled 1,610 units. At Paris Air Show 1965 , the major European airlines conduct informal discussions on their needs in short and medium-haul needed to absorb traffic growth . U.S. automakers are getting into the realization widebody ( Lockheed L- 1011, 747 , etc. ), but to avoid direct competition , European interest in a different market , the short -haul 200 places more suited to short but dense connections encountered in Europe, and seek to develop the idea of ​​" airbus " (" air bus ").

Meetings between the main actors of air transport following and European manufacturers have their own projects: Galion for Sud-Aviation , the successor to the BAC 1-11 British Aircraft Corporation, an elongated Hawker Siddeley Trident for version etc. . Hawker Siddeley also conducts studies with Nord Aviation and Breguet on a new widebody , the " HBN 100" ( initials Hawker, Breguet and Nord) , a device to circular fuselage 20 feet in diameter, similar to the Boeing 747 .

 

German industrialists , seeing an opportunity to revive their national industrial production , launch themselves as a study involving five manufacturers ( Dornier , Hamburger Flugzeugbau , Messerschmitt- Bölkow , Siebelwerke -ATG and VFW ) group. Airbus Studiengruppe that uses the name "Airbus" formally exploring the possibility of participating in international collaboration but none of these projects compete with American aircraft . British European Airways then meets eight European airlines in October 1965 at a symposium on the market of the " Airbus ". It shows a Franco -British unit 200-225 passengers project with a range of 810 nautical miles for a cost of 20-30 % less than the 727 to 2009 .

 

In 1965 , German transform their study group into a more organized and coordinated structure, Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus aims to develop a four-engine widebody in collaboration with other European partners. In early 1966 , Sud-Aviation and Dassault also discuss a draft jumbo jet competitor HBN -100. Faced with this rookie of interest, German , British and French governments agreed to designate a single national company to represent ( Arbeitsgemeinschaft Airbus Germany, Hawker Siddeley for the United Kingdom and Sud-Aviation in France ) . The HBN -100 project was officially selected and a funding application is made ​​to the three governments Oct. 15, 1966 . For the first , the project is presented under the name " Airbus A300 ".

 

Early 1967 , the size of the A300 is significantly revised upwards , partly for reasons of prestige , although no European airline does not see the need for such a capacity in the immediate future . French and British agree to assign management studies to France , provided that Rolls- Royce is the engine supplier . In May 1967 a more elaborate project , with a capacity of 300 passengers, is presented and the research and development cost is estimated at 190 million pounds , supported by 37.5% in the United Kingdom , 37, 5% in France and 25% Germany. Estimates provide a potential market of 250 aircraft and 25 July 1967 , the draft agreement was officially signed to " strengthen European cooperation in the field of aerospace technology ." A memorandum of understanding on the launch of the first study phase is the A300 signed in London in September 1967. It provides that the final plans are approved in June 1968 , and the prototype is built only if orders reach 75.

 

1967 - 1978 : Airbus Industrie A300 and training

 

In the months following the signing , the French and British governments expressed doubts about the feasibility of the project. Airlines shun the A300 they consider too big and the consortium does not record any order in the month of June 1968.

 

French and British are worried face the rising cost of the program. France should finance two major projects in parallel ( Concorde and Dassault Mercure 100) but nevertheless sees the A300 an opportunity to provide work for 30,000 employees, mostly French , while the United Kingdom, already worried by the cost the development of Concorde , emits more and more doubts about his participation. In addition, Rolls- Royce and Lockheed has signed an exclusive agreement for the RB211 engine supposed to equip the A300, the UK is obliged to finance the development of a new, more powerful turbojet.

 

Given the lack of interest of companies , a smaller version of the A300 is given at the end of 1968 . Initially called " A250 " , the " A300 B" dimensions slightly smaller than the original A300 and weighs 25 tons less. Its cargo has been redesigned to allow him to embark LD3 containers side- by-side and increase its profitability. Tony Benn, British Minister of technologies, announced in December 1968 that the United Kingdom can not commit to participate financially in the project and could not support the consortium. UK finally decided to abandon its participation in the project in 1969.

 

 

A300B2 Air France at Farnborough in 1974.

Faced with this withdrawal, West Germany , driven by his finance minister Franz Josef Strauss sees an opportunity to rebuild its civil aviation industry and proposes to increase its participation in the project and increase its funding to 50%.

 

France and Germany signed at Paris Air Show 1969 a cooperation agreement for the jet " A300 B ' 226 seats, designed to be more economical than sorting or four-engined competitors.

 

The operator is assigned to General Electric in cooperation with Snecma to develop the new engine CFM 56. Despite the withdrawal of the United Kingdom, Arnold Hall, director of Hawker Siddeley had already invested 35 million books in the design and manufacture of wings and decided to join alone Sud-Aviation and Deutsche Airbus project A300B21 .

 

New logo of Airbus Industrie , founded in 1970 .

 

1 January 1970 , South and North Aviation unite to form a giant aircraft : Aerospatiale .

 

French and Germans want to formalize the structure of their collaboration and funding of the A300B . Initially distributed at 50 % each , the shares must be changed several partners Deutsche Airbus decided to withdraw from the project , leaving only MBB and VFW - Fokker . VFW - Fokker , but as is the German part of the Fokker- VFW based group in the Netherlands , the Dutch government is obliged to take 6.6 % stake in the project A300B to regularize the situation. The share of France and Germany will no longer mount at 46.7 %. After this restructuring, Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus officially form " Airbus Industrie " December 18, 1970 .

 

Airbus Industry structure is that of an economic interest grouping (EIG ), which allows trade between participating nations facilities and offers more flexibility in operations. The headquarters of the new company is based in Paris and Franz -Josef Strauss was appointed Chairman of the Supervisory Board, to establish what new programs

 

 

Section of the A300 at the Deutsches Museum in Munich.

After the transfer of shares to the Fokker West Germany , the Spanish manufacturer Construcciones Sociedad Anónima Aeronáuticas ( CASA ) , which had been associated with the Dassault Mercure program since 1969, joined Airbus Industrie and takes 4.2 % stake, reducing the share of Aerospatiale and Deutsche Airbus to 47.9 % each.

 

 

A300B4 -200 Eastern Air Lines, first customer of Airbus American company.

From the construction of the prototype , it is planned to build 10 variants of the A300B with payload capacities and increased radius of action to make it flexible and adaptable to all market segments device:

 

A300B1 for the basic version

A300B2 for an extended version of 10 m,

A300B3 (never built ) for a maximum takeoff weight of 148.5 t,

A300B4 for a mass of 150 t ,

A300B5 (never built ) for a cargo version

A300B6 (never built ) for a freighter version extended ,

A300B9 for a very long version (future A330 )

A300B11 for a four-engine version of (future A340 ), etc. .

 

The ability of the A300B1 is not large enough for Air France that carries a greater interest in the elongated A300B2 version with a capacity of 270 passengers and an order for 6 copies of this release, September 3 1970 , the first order of Airbus. The first flight of the A300B1 is made October 28, 1972 one month ahead of schedule and it receives certification of the French DGAC and the German LBA March 15, 1974 and May 30, 1974 FAA . Air France is the first airline to fly the A300 between Paris and London, 15 April 1974 .

 

To publicize the A300 and try to break into the U.S. market , Airbus decided in September 1973 to launch an exhibition tour of six weeks in North America and South America. This tour is a great success with many airlines including Frank Borman, director of the company Eastern Air Lines, which a few years later became the first U.S. customer for Airbus A300B4 Order 23 in March 1978 , and the launch Airbus career in the United States .

 

You can find more detailed information : fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Airbus