Heller 80374 Nord 2501 Noratlas

The Nord N2501 Noratlas was a French military transport aircraft with an all-metal structure in a high wing configuration. The drive was provided by two radial motors SNECMA-Bristol Hercules, 2040 HP each. The flight of the prototype took place on September 10, 1949, and serial production continued in 1949-1961, ending with the production of 425 machines. The aircraft were decommissioned by the French Air Force by 1989.

The Nord N2501 Noratlas was created as a new, basic medium transport aircraft of the French Air Force, which was to replace the proven, but at the end of the 1940s, no modernization potential of the machine: Junkers Ju-52 and Douglas C-47. Several development versions of this aircraft were created in the course of serial production. The basic and most produced version was the N2501. A version for the needs of the German Luftwaffe, designated N2501D, was also created, differing mainly in a slightly different avionics. There are also civil variants dedicated to individual airlines, e.g. N2501A for UTA (later Air France) or N2502B for Air Algeria. Airplanes of this type have been exported to Germany, Israel, Greece and Portugal. They did very well during the Suez Crisis (1956), the First Indochina War (1949-1954) and the war in Algeria (1954-1962).