View source for Transall

{{Short description|Consortium to design military aircraft}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=November 2015}}
{{Infobox company
|name             = Transall
|logo             = 
|logo_size        = 
|type             = [[Consortium]]
|industry         = [[Aerospace manufacturer|Aerospace]]
|founded          = January 1959<ref>Gunston, p.461</ref>
|location         = 
|area_served      = Worldwide
|key_people       = 
|products         = [[Aircraft]]
|owners           = [[Nord Aviation]], [[Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke|Weser Flugzeugbau]] (VFW) and [[Hamburger Flugzeugbau]] (HFB)
|revenue          = 
|revenue_year     = 
|operating_income =
|net_income       =
|num_employees    =
|parent           =
|subsid           =
|homepage         = 
|footnotes        =
}}

'''Transall''' (''Transport Allianz'') was a consortium created to design and manufacture the [[Transall C-160]] [[military transport aircraft]].

Established in 1959, the company was initially a [[joint venture]] between [[Nord Aviation]] of [[France]] and [[Weser Flugzeugbau]] (WFB) and [[Hamburger Flugzeugbau]] (HFB) of Germany. It was later operated by French aerospace company [[Aérospatiale]] and German aircraft manufacturers [[Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke]] (VFW) and [[Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm]] (MBB). Production of its sole product, the C-160, was terminated in 1985. The three later companies merged to form the multinational aerospace company EADS, which subsequently rebranded itself the [[Airbus|Airbus Group]].

==History==
During the late 1950s, a requirement arose to replace the [[piston engine|piston-engined]] [[Nord Noratlas]] transports operated by the [[French Air Force]] and the [[German Air Force]]. In the [[postwar]] era, many politicians in both countries were keen to encourage industrial co-operation between France and Germany; examples of this had already occurred in the aircraft manufacturing sector, such as a previous arrangement in which Noratlases for the German Air Force had been produced under license by German aircraft manufacturer [[Weser Flugzeugbau]].<ref name="wilson68 p614"/> On 28 November 1957, representatives from both France and Germany signed an agreement calling for the joint development of a successor to the Noratlas. The Italian government also became involved in the project early on to meet their own air force's requirements; however, Italy's participation in the fledgling program was soon terminated in favour of the smaller and locally-built [[Aeritalia G.222|Fiat G.222]] instead.<ref name="wilson68 p614"/>

In January 1959, a consortium, named the "Transporter-Allianz" or ''Transall'', was formally established to develop and produce this new transport aircraft; its initial membership comprised the French aircraft manufacturer [[Nord Aviation]] and the German companies Weser Flugzeugbau (which became [[Vereinigte Flugtechnische Werke]] (VFW) in 1964) and [[Hamburger Flugzeugbau]] (HFB).<ref name="wilson68 p614">Wilson ''Flight International'' 25 April 1968, p. 614.</ref><ref name="aijun81 p286">Pletschacher ''Air International'' June 1981, p. 286.</ref> Each of the production partners was responsible for the construction of a single prototype; the first (built by Nord) performed its [[maiden flight]] on 25 May 1963, while the VFW and HFB-built prototypes followed on 25 May 1963 and 19 February 1964 respectively.<ref name="wilson68 p615">Wilson ''Flight International'' 25 April 1968, p. 615.</ref> These prototypes were followed by six pre-production examples, which made their first flights between 1965 and 1966; these aircraft were stretched by {{convert|20|in|cm|order=flip}} compared with the prototypes.<ref name="wilson68 p616">Wilson ''Flight International'' 25 April 1968, p. 616.</ref>

[[File:German Air Force Transall C-160D arrives RIAT Fairford 10thJuly2014 (noise corrected) arp.jpg|thumb|A German Air Force [[Transall C-160D]] arriving at [[RAF Fairford]], [[Gloucestershire]], [[England]], on 10 July 2014, for the [[Royal International Air Tattoo]]]]

Production orders were delayed by the unsuccessful efforts of American defence company [[Lockheed Corporation|Lockheed]] to sell its [[C-130 Hercules]] transport to the German Air Force as an alternative to the C-160. On 24 September 1964, a formal production contract was signed, ordered a combined lot of 160 C-160s (110 for Germany and 50 for France). Workshare on the type's manufacture was divided between Germany and France broadly in line with the number of orders placed. While Nord produced both the wings and engine nacelles, VFW manufactured the centre fuselage and horizontal tail, and HFB constructed the forward and rear fuselage; the aircraft's tail fin was also built by [[Dornier Flugzeugwerke|Dornier]]. Three separate assembly lines were established, where the sections produced by each of the three main partner companies were brought together to form complete aircraft.<ref name="aijun81 p286"/><ref name="wilson68 p616"/>

During 1967, the first production airframes were delivered to France and Germany.<ref name="wilson68 p616"/> The first batch included 110 C-160Ds for the German Air Force (''Luftwaffe''), 50 C-160Fs for the [[French Air Force]], and nine C-160Zs for the [[South African Air Force]]. Four C-160Fs were subsequently converted to the C-160P air mail transport aircraft configuration, and were operated by the national [[flag carrier]] [[Air France]] on behalf of the [[La Poste (France)|French Postal Service]].<ref name="aijun81 p289">Pletschacher ''Air International'' June 1981, p. 289.</ref> Production continued until October 1972.<ref name="aijun81 p286"/>

In July 1977, France placed an order for 25 C-160 aircraft, which were built to an improved standard.<ref name="aijun81 p285">Pletschacher ''Air International'' June 1981, p. 285.</ref> Production work for this batch was split 50-50 between French aerospace company [[Aérospatiale]] (the successor to Nord) and Germany aviation firm [[Messerschmitt-Bölkow-Blohm]] (MBB) (which had absorbed VFW and HFB), while all aircraft were completed at a single assembly line in [[Toulouse]]. Changes from earlier aircraft include the cargo loading door on the port side of the fuselage being replaced by provision for additional fuel tanks in the wing centre section, as well as the installation of updated and improved avionics.<ref name="aijun81 p286-7">Pletschacher ''Air International'' June 1981, pp. 286–287.</ref> During 1981, the first of these second generation C-160s made its first flight.<ref name ="chant 472">Chant 1987, p. 472.</ref> Aircraft produced in this batch included 29 for France (an additional four non-standard aircraft were constructed for special missions), and six for Indonesia.<ref name="blum 2">Blumschein 1999, p. A26-2.</ref>

==Product==
* [[Transall C-160]]
* Transall 161 - Not Built<ref>Chillon et al 1980, p. 116</ref>

==See also==
*[[List of aircraft manufacturers]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Bibliography===
{{refbegin}}
* Blumschein, P. [https://web.archive.org/web/20140413131958/http://ftp.rta.nato.int/public//PubFulltext/RTO/MP/RTO-MP-044///MP-044-A26.pdf ''Transall C-160 Life Extension and Avionics Upgrade Programs''.] NATO – RTO MP-44, 1999.
* Chant, Chris. ''Compendium of Armaments and Military Hardware''. Routledge, 1987. {{ISBN|0-7102-0720-4}}.
* Chillon, Jacques. Dubois, Jean-Pierre and Wegg, John. ''French Postwar Transport Aircraft'', [[Air-Britain]], 1980, {{ISBN|0-8513-0078-2}}.
* {{cite book |last= Gunston |first= Bill |title= World Encyclopedia of Aircraft Manufacturers, 2nd Edition |year= 2005 |publisher= Sutton Publishing Limited |location= Phoenix Mill, Gloucestershire, England, UK |isbn= 0-7509-3981-8 }}
* Pletschacher, Peter. "Transall Resurgent". ''[[Air International]]'', Vol. 20 No. 6, June 1981. {{ISSN|0306-5634}}. pp.&nbsp;284–289.
* Wilson, Michael. "[http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1968/1968%20-%200636.html "Transall C-160: An exercise in multi-national transport design"]. ''[[Flight International]]'', Vol. 93, No. 3085, 25 April 1968. pp.&nbsp;614–620
{{refend}}

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[[Category:France–Germany military relations]]
[[Category:Multinational aircraft manufacturers]]
[[Category:Former joint ventures]]