Nord Aviation Nord 1500 "Griffon"

The top speed research aircraft "Griffon" originated from the Nord 1402 "Gerfaut" which was the first European aircraft to break the sound barrier in 1954. Similar to the "Gerfaut", the SFECMAS 1500 "Guepard" aircraft was drafted by the Arsénal/SFECMAS company and then rechristened by Nord as the Nord 1500 "Griffon".

It originated from various developments which was a common effort of the designers Claude Flamant (management), Jean Galtier and the German research couple Irene and Eugen Sänger whose goal was to build a fighter with a ram jet since there were no rocket engines for manned aircrafts at the time. The "Griffon" was constructed in two prototypes: the "Griffon I" which had just one jet engine and the "Griffon II" with an additional combined ram jet. Both models were strictly research and test aircrafts for the new engine technology.

The Nord 1500-01 "Griffon I", still unequipped with a ram jet, took its first flight on September 20, 1955 under the pilot André Turcat. It was originally tested with a SNECMA jet engine Atar 101G21 with 4,100 kg thrust. Later it was equipped with an afterburner equipped with a 3,800 kg strong Atar 101F jet engine. The highest Mach achieved was 1.17.

After reconstruction of the cell, the Atar 101E3 jet turbine with 3,500 kg thrust was replaced with an integrated ram jet that the Nord company constructed itself. There was also a jet and ram jet engine. The altered aircraft, renamed the Nord 1500-2 "Griffon II", flew for the first time on January 1957 by the pilot Michel Chalard. The Nord ram jet engine was first used on the sixteenth test flight on April 26, 1957. It was thought to be a little too small but achieved a Mach of 1.3. The full performance potential of the combination engine allowed this to be achieved since the air throughput increased from 5,200 to 6,800 qm. Therefore, on December 15, 1957, it achieved Mach 1.85 during an ascent of 150 m/s which helped garner some extra research money for the project.

Even higher top speeds were achieved during the flight tests. On October 27, 1958, Mach 2.05 was achieved during an ascent of 100 m/s. On February 1959, the pilot André Turcat finally set a new international record of 1,643 km/h over a closed 100 km orbit. A few months later, he achieved Mach 2.19 ( 2330 km/h in 15 000 m altitude) at an altitude of 16,400 m, which means that theoretically a speed of Mach 2.20 was reached. These speeds were achieved approximately 80 percent due to the total thrust of the jet engine, approximately 4,200 kp at an altitude of 15,000 m and 2,500 kp at an altitude of 1,800 m.

Despite great efforts, the problem of thrust control had to be mastered- it either gave "full gas" or "nothing"- by the end of 1960, the tests of "Griffon II" were completed. There was also further development of a single and dual-engined fighter the "Super Griffon" which was supposed to achieve Mach 3 or Mach 4.

The Griffon was conceived of as a biplane with delta wings at a 60° angle. It had combination rudders (elevons) and was equipped with runway control. The empennage consisted of large vertical fins that were situated on the frontal portion of the fuselage on both sides. The air opening under the fuselage necessitated the cock pit and high-legged chassis which had three retractable undercarriage wheels.

The "Griffon II", whose initial weight was 6.8 tons, had a central turbine jet engine ATAR 101 E3 from a ram jet engine with a 1.5 m diameter. The jet engine produced an initial and ascent rate that the ram jet engine achieved by a determined speed and flight altitude.

There is a Griffon on display at the Musée de l'Air am Flughafen Le Bourget in Paris.

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