The Arospatiale SA.319 Alouette III is a light single-engine multi-role helicopter manufactured by Sud Aviation, later Arospatiale. Including the licensed productions in India and Switzerland, more than 2,000 "skylarks", the translation of "Alouette" from
The Arospatiale SA.319 Alouette III is a light single-engine multi-role helicopter manufactured by Sud Aviation, later Arospatiale. Including the licensed productions in India and Switzerland, more than 2,000 “skylarks”, the translation of “Alouette” from French, have been produced since 1959. The airborne unit of the Police of the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia currently operates a mixed fleet of thirteen helicopters for transport, assessment and documentation in large-scale operations as well as for the tracking down fugitives, the search for missing persons, or the rescue of injured persons. From 1972 to 1979, two Alouette IIIs were used for these tasks. While the patrol cars of the police in North Rhine-Westphalia still sported white/green colors at that time, the bellies of the Alouettes were additionally painted in bright red for better recognition. They also had a traffic paddle on board to stop vehicles. With a stopwatch and a distance-time calculation, the speed of heavy goods traffic could be measured and, if necessary, fined on the basis of markings on the motorways. Although thermal imaging cameras or high-resolution video image systems were still science fiction back then, the Alouette nevertheless proved to be a boost to the state polices capabilities.
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