The C160 was designed as a replacement for the radial-engine Noratlas transports of the French and West German Air Forces by the Transporter Allianz consortium of Nord Aviation, Hamburger Flugzeugbau and Weser Flugzeugbau; companies that became Aérospatiale, MBB and VFW respectively during the life of the project. The C160 was an early example of a now common European method of aircraft manufacture, whereby each partner is responsible for the manufacture of specific components, but final assembly is shared. In this case, Nord built the wings and engine nacelles, HFB/MBB the forward and rear fuselage, and VFW the centre fuselage and horizontal tail. Dornier was contracted to build the vertical fins.
Following initial flight testing, a contract for 160 units was signed on 24 Sep 64. Despite the consortium’s best efforts, the only export sales were to South Africa and Türkiye, with the latter being supplied with nearly-new aircraft from West German Air Force stocks in 1971. Five years later, France announced its intention to build a further 25 C160s. This number was subsequently increased, including the funding of three aircraft by the Centre d’Exploitation Postale Métropolitaine, as compensation for the delayed return to the French Air Force of its C160Ps.
Just under a third of the C160s built survive, but only a handful of C160s remain active. Following the retirement of the type by France and Germany (on 3 Apr 22 and 11 Oct 21 respectively), Türkiye remains the sole military operator. Its lone C160 is expected to be retired by the end of 2024. Perhaps surprisingly, an Australian operator has taken delivery of three former German Air Force aircraft to provide logistics support for fighting wildfires; one of these is illustrated above.
First flight: 25 Feb 63 (c/n V-1, D-9507)
Production: 213, made up of 59 by Nord at Melun-Villaroche and Bourges, 60 by VFW at Lemwerder, 59 by HFB/MBB at Finkenwerder, and 35 by Aerospatiale at Toulouse-Blagnac.
First delivery: 22 Nov 67, to the French Air Force (c/n 1, F1)
Last delivery: Sep 89, to the French Air Force (c/n 232, H04)
Variants: C160V – prototype, powered by 2 Rolls-Royce 22 RTy 20 turboprops (3, 1 each assembled at Melun-Villaroche, Lemwerder and Finkenwerder);
C160A – pre-production version with 20-inch fuselage stretch (6 built, 2 assembled at each of Melun-Villaroche, Lemwerder and Finkenwerder);
C160D – designation for production aircraft for the West German Air Force aircraft (110 built, 24 assembled at Bourges, 45 at Lemwerder and 41 at Finkenwerder);
C160F – designation for production aircraft for the French Air Force (60 built, 23 assembled at Bourges, 12 at Lemwerder and 15 at Finkenwerder);
C160Z – export version for South Africa (9 built, all assembled at Bourges);
C160NG – Nouvelle Génération version for the French Air Force but also available commercially, with forward passenger door deleted to allow for additional fuel tanks, strengthened wing, improved avionics and in-flight refueling capability (29 built, at Blagnac, first flight 09 Apr 81, c/n 201, F201)
C160G (or Gabriel) – C160NG optimized for detecting, locating, identifying, and jamming radio and communications networks, for use by Groupement Aérien de Brouillage, Recherche et Identification Electronique (2 assembled at Blagnac, with post-manufacture modifications taking place in 1989).
C160H (or Hermès) – C160NG equipped with the Rockwell-Collins TACAMO system as Avion Station Relais de Transmissions Éxceptionelles (ASTARTÉ) to allow communications relay with nuclear submarines as part of France’s strategic deterrence network (4 assembled at Blagnac with post-manufacture modifications carried out at Bordeaux, first flight 27 Feb 85, c/n 222, H01)
Conversions: C160P – version for operation by Air France as a bulk air mail carrier on behalf of the Centre d’Exploitation Postale Métropolitaine, equipped with a F27 instrument panel (4 converted from C160F by SOGERMA at Bordeaux, first flight 23 Feb 73, c/n 16, F-WUFP); C160R – mid-life upgrade to all surviving French Air Force transport aircraft featuring update avionics suite and installation of anti-missile countermeasures (66 converted 1994-99, including 3 C160As, 45 C160Fs and 21 C160NGs); C160T – version modified in Türkiye for electronic intelligence (at least 3 converted from C160D).
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