SCAN 40 (Roussel R.40)

[Maveric]

Hi all,

I search for drawings and infos about the french light aircraft project SCAN 40 "Scanton". This was one competitor with the Roussel 40 and SUC.10 "Courlis".

Servus

 

[brontolino]

Dear Maveric

You can find some info and pics on wikipedia and on www.aviafrance.com. For the drawing you must find the french magazine Le Trait D'Union N° 123 ( I have it but I lack the scanner) there is the complete history about SCAN Factory and this fliying boat.

 

[hesham]

What was this SNCAN airplane ?,a Project ?.

http://www.avia-it.com/act/biblioteca/periodici/PDF%20Riviste/Ala/L'Ala%201949%2009.pdf

 

[walter]

Hi Hesham
I think that this project was indeed by SCAN as the SCAN-40 Scanton in/around 1947.
This is info I collected over the years and maybe it is of some help to you.
2-seat sport
one 70-75hp Roussell 1600cc piston engine
estimated max. speed 125 mph, range 625 miles
wingspan 31.824ft; length 22.965ft
DETAILS: This twin tail boom, pusher engine, light plane was an original design 2-seater of Mr. Roussel, who also developed the 1600cc engine. Work on the aircraft and the engine commenced in 1947 and in April of that year construction of the prototype was started in the SCAN (Société de Construction Aéro-Navale) works under the SCAN-40 Scanton designation. The work by SCAN on the aircraft was soon stopped, but from November 1950 continued by the designer and the aircraft was renamed as the Roussel Model 40 Hirondelle. The aircraft was ready for ground tests and taxi trials in February 1952, but work soon stopped (1953) and the aircraft was not actually flight tested.
Production: 1

 

[hesham]

Oh Roussel,thank you my dear Walter.

 

[toura]

From an very old "Aviation magazine"

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Toura.

 

[Vahe Demirjian]

SCAN 40 isn't mentioned on Wikipedia or www.aviafrance.com. Anyone have pics or specs of the SCAN 40? (Bear in mind that S.C.A.N. stood for Société de construction aéronavale.)

 

[dan_inbox]

I search for drawings and infos about the french light aircraft project SCAN 40 "Scanton". This was one competitor with the Roussel 40 and SUC.10 "Courlis".

From my files, the Roussel 40 Hirondelle (swallow) was not a competitor to the SCAN 40, but a rename of it after SCAN gave up. It never flew.
(Source: myharddisk, grade: youdecide)

 

[dan_inbox]

Additional tidbit: the reason for SCAN giving up on the 40 project in 1948 was probably because SCAN's managing director, himself a pilot, died when he flew his SCAN-30 into a mountain.

Source (in French):
http://aerophile.over-blog.com/article-l-hydravion-scan-20-104259777.html

 

[toura]

Bonjour Marveric

From "Le trait d'union"n°123 dated January 1989
Bye

 

[toura]

I thing you are interestiing Vahe Demirjian, sorry for the
page 2 !!

 

[PhR]

The SCAN 40 nicknamed "Scanton", a wordplay between SCAN and "caneton" (duckling) became Roussel 40 "Hirondelle" (swallow). This plane never flew.

 

[Stargazer]

The SCAN 40 nicknamed "Scanton", a wordplay between SCAN and "caneton" (duckling)

Thanks for clarifying this. I'd wondered about that strange name for a while!
That photo (and the other one further up in the thread) were taken at Buc circa 1952-53.
Here is a 3-view arrangement and a small article from an old Aviation Magazine.
The following chronology can be established:

• 1945-46: Engineer Roussel designs the R.40 as his first postwar project.
• 1947: the Roussel engine is built and begins testing.
• 1949: airframe construction under way at the S.C.A.N. works in La Rochelle.
• Sep. '49: Construction of the airframe is completed.
• Aug. '51: The nearly complete R.40 is exhibited at the Aéro-Club Louis Blériot in Jouy-en-Josas.
• Dec. '51: The finished prototype is rolled out from the La Rochelle works.
• Feb. '52: Presentation of the aircraft in Buc and first taxiing tests.
• May '53: The aircraft is still in Buc and unflown because of engine trouble.

It would seem the R.40 never flew... Many engineers will tell you that a new untried airplane should always be powered by a tested and proven engine type, never a new untried one... The R.40 is yet another example that can be added to a very long list of failures owing to that particular mistake.

 

[Stargazer]

Interestingly, the Roussel R.40 was still a thing in 1959, as evidenced by this 1959 article from Les Ailes, which presented both the Roussel airplane and engine as "novelties"...