The Aérospatiale Alouette III developed in France is a single-engine, light utility helicopter developed by Sud Aviation, later merged into Aérospatiale. The first version of the Alouette III, the SE 3160 prototype, first flew on 28 February 1959. Production of the SA 316A (SE 3160) began in 1961 and remained in production until 1968, when it was replaced by the SA 316B. The last and 1437th Alouette III left the Marignane assembly lines in 1979, when the main production line in France was closed down. The last Alouette III from Aérospatiale was delivered in 1985. Many were manufactured under licence in Romania, India and Switzerland. Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) obtained a licence to build Alouette IIIs as the HAL Chetak in India. Over 300 units were produced by HAL as it continued to independently update and indigenize the helicopter over the years, and a variant is still in production though in diminishing volumes. Versions of the Alouette III were also either licence-built or assembled by IAR in Romania (as the IAR 316), F+W Emmen in Switzerland, and by Fokker and Lichtwerk in the Netherlands. The type proved to be very reliable.

Alouette II Koninklijke Luchtmacht

Royal Netherlands Air Force, Code A-275 , serial 1275, put into service 1965.

This helicopter was used for light transport tasks and the few still remaining (like this one) are used for VIP transport, like the Dutch Queen. This helicopter was photographed during a visit to Texel airfield.

Photographed July 2007 by Cees Hendriks (C) Copyright IPMS Nederland

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This Danish Alouette III has floats. It is located at Castle Egeskov, about 30km south of Odense, Danmark.

Photographed August 2012 by Peter Booij   (C) Copyright IPMS Nederland