SATRE    S.E. 2100
This photo was provided to TWITT by Alfred Worsfold and came off a postcard he found in France several years ago.  The description on the back translated into something like:  "Winged Flyer" - two-place, side-by-side tailless airplane.  The tricycle gear was meant to keep the aircraft low to the ground so it could as if an automobile.  Pilot:  P. Nadot, Circo 1945.

(The following material was provided by Eric du Trieu de Terdonck.  We thank him very much for such detail.)
Designed during W.W.II by Mr. Pierre Satre.  Twin-seated with rear engine Renault 4 Pei - 140HP.  The test pilot was Mr. Pierre Nadot (test pilot of the S.N.C.A.S.E.-Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Sud-Est) and it made its first flight the 04-Oct-45 in Toulouse.  For your information, Mr. Pierre Nadot was also the main test pilot for the SE-210 "Caravelle" (passenger aircraft with twin rear jet engines) and Mr. Pierre Satre was one of its designer.  The aircraft was still existing in 1952 but there was no information on what happened with this aircraft after that.  The specifications were:

                                 Wingspan :                      9.89 m
                                  Length :                            4.92 m
                                  Wing area :                   15.11 m2  =>  53 Kg/m2
                                  Weight empty :               518 Kg
                                  Total weight :                   800 Kg
                                  Max. speed :                    230 Km/h
                                  Landing speed :                 90 Km/h
                                  Range :                              500 Km

This photo is from the book Histoire de l'aéronautique Française - L'épopée 1940 - 1960 written by Mr. Jacques Noetinger (publisher : France-Empire - ISBN 2 7048 0205 X). (For your information, he is a specialist of the French aircraft, collaborater to various periodicals specializing in aircraft and was a speaker in numerous aircrafts meetings (La Ferté Allais & Le Bourget). He learned to fly before W.W.II, was involved in May-June 1940 in the French Air Force and, then escaped in order to be able to join the Free French Army. He was trained in the U.S.A. on P-47 but became instructor when he was wishing to fight. He has stop to fly since 2 years because of health problems.)

     The photo comes from Aviation Magazine Nr. 55 (01-Aug-1952), page 23.  Some additional comments on the company that built this aircraft.  The company S.E. was the old Lioré et Olivier, Potez, SPCA and Romano companies which were taken over by the French State between 1935 and 1939 (after the "Front populaire"). The name was changed to S.E. (Sud Est aviation) and now it is a part of the company Aérospatiale. 
     The photo included in the TWITT newsletter (top of this page) is interesting because it shows the aircraft with black (or dark) color line on the main body and, also,
protection for the wheels.

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