Nearly 1500 Caudron Goeland were built since the date of the first flight in March 1935.
Only
the militarized version, C445M is present in the list below. To
date, of the 404 C445M manufactured, 30 are listed :
The Caudron Goeland was designed
in 1934 by Marcel Riffard, father of the brand's racing aircraft.
The aircraft is offered as a civil transport aircraft capable of
carrying 6 passengers. The Goeland is a twin-engine cantilever low-wing
construction of mixed construction: wood for the wing and fuselage,
and steel for the top and the back of the fuselage. The wing is
equipped with flaps along the entire length of the trailing edge,
including under the fuselage. The aircraft has a retractable landing
gear in the engine nacelles and is powered by two Renault Bengali-Six
180 hp. Both pilots have a dual control and are installed side by
side in the cockpit, separated from the passenger cabin by a door.
Luggage takes place in the nose of the aircraft through a side door
and at the rear of the fuselage, where you can also find toilets.
The prototype C.440 No1 makes
its first flight on March 5, 1935 with Raymond Delmotte at the controls.
The aircraft, registered F-ANKV is then transferred to Istres to
carry out the official tests. The C.440 will be available in many
versions (C441 to C449) throughout his career, and nearly 1500 aircrafts
will be manufactured. As expected, the aircraft interested airlines
such as Air France, Air Bleu or Air Afrique who used the aircraft
on internal lines and in AFN. Some copies, ceded by Air France,
will even be used by the Spanish Republicans. The Caudron Goeland
also enjoyed a certain success in export, in Yugoslavia which buys
two copies for its national company "Aeroput", in Argentina, Bulgaria,
Spain or for the Belgian Air Force.
The French Air Force commands
the Caudron St a militarized version, the C.445M able to carry either
passengers or cargo. The aircraft will also be used in flying schools
or as a sanitary appliance with version C.447, which can carry 4
stretchers. The Naval Aviation will use about sixty copies for liaison
and training.
After the Armistice, the
Germans seized about fifty "Goeland" that will be used as a training
aircraft or transferred to Lufthansa. Some copies will be handed
over to the Slovak Air Force in 1942.
During the occupation, the
Germans allow the firm Caudron to resume the manufacture of Goeland
and nearly 700 machines will be manufactured in the Renault plant
in Boulogne-Billancourt. These aircraft will be used by the Vichy
Air Force and the Luftwaffe to equip its flying schools.
After the release, Caudron-Renault
is absorbed by Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques
du Nord (SNCAN), and the production of Goeland resumes in the plant
of Issy-les-Moulineaux in version C.449: 325 copies will be manufactured
until the early 1950s, and used in particular by Air France, or
the Air Force which used the aircraft until 1956.
With nearly 1,500 devices
manufactured, the Caudron Goeland was unquestionably a great commercial
success.
