The first turbine-powered helicopter, the Alouette 2, celebrated the 50th anniversary of its maiden flight from Buc airfield, near Paris, in March.

In the 1950s the two helicopter designers, Charles Marchetti and Rene Mouille, made the decision to abandon the Alouette 1 piston engine helicopter for the gas turbine. Its first flight was a success and in May that year a second prototype took to the air. Then in June the aircraft was pushed up to a record altitude of 8,209 meters.

SGAC, the certifying agency at the time, awarded the helicopter its certificate of airworthiness in 1957. Four years later, a new version with a more powerful gas turbine and a more fuel efficient engine was made, called SA 3180 Alouette 2 Astazou.

With the delivery of the 1,324th aircraft in 1975, production of the Alouette 2 stopped. The 284 Alouette 2s still in use logged 27,000 flight hours last year.