In 1951, the French Ministry of Aviation announced a competition for a new medium-range aircraft. Sud Aviation's proposal for a twin-jet powered by Rolls- Royce Avon engines was accepted and went into production as the Caravelle, built at a plant near Toulouse Blagnac airport. Several Caravelle variants appeared during the course of series production, beginning with the 64-passenger Caravelle 1 and progressing with technological advances to the Caravelle III with modernised engines of higher thrust. In 1964, the Super Caravelle model was put into production, with significantly improved aerodynamics and lower air resistance. The final development version was the Caravelle 12, which was longer than all previous versions and could carry up to 140 passengers. A total of 282 production examples was built until 1972, and these saw service with numerous airlines in a host of countries worldwide until the early years of the 21st century. Containing more than 200 unique, rare and previously unseen photos from across the globe, this book is testimony to the Caravelle's versatility as an advanced development that made jet aircraft a familiar fixture on medium-range routes.
