Nord NC.850

The Nord NC.850 was a French light aircraft developed in the late 1940s for flying clubs, originally built as the Aérocentre NC.850. It grew out of the Aérocentre NC.840 for a government competition under the SALS movement, and was a high-wing, strut-braced monoplane with a fully enclosed cabin, a fixed tailwheel undercarriage, a tubular fuselage and a fabric covering. The competition was won by the SIPA S.90, but SALS still ordered 100 of the NC.850 family as the NC.853, which had twin tails. When Aérocentre was liquidated Nord bought its assets and carried on production as the NC.853S. A more heavily glazed army version, the NC.856 Norvigie, was ordered in 112 examples, mostly for artillery spotting.