Poster french airplane caravelle

The Sud-Aviation SE 210 Caravelle, known as "the Caravelle", was a twin-engine airliner, intended for short and medium-haul routes, produced between 1958 and 1973 by the French company Sud-Aviation.

It was the first civilian twin-engine in the world produced in series, and has the specificity of having the engines placed at the rear of the fuselage (whereas they were generally placed in the subalar nacelles, or even in the wings)

Designed to replace piston engine aircraft such as the Douglas DC-6, this aircraft could carry 80 to 130 passengers depending on the version, over a maximum distance of between 1,650 and 3,400 km.

Air France put the first production aircraft into service, baptized “Alsace”, on May 6, 1959, followed by the Scandinavian Airlines System. With the increase in air traffic in the 1960s and 1970s, companies refocused on larger aircraft and many aircraft were withdrawn from service or transferred to charter operators. By the 1980s, modern airliners rendered the Caravelle obsolete and many active examples were scrapped or resold in Africa and South America.

The last Caravelles still in service in Europe were retired in the late 1990s, with the last being retired in 2005.

A total of 279 Caravelle were built as well as three prototypes. The last copy left the factory in 1973. The Caravelle greatly contributed to the innovative image of France and the "Trente Glorieuses".