Dassault MD.320 Hirondelle

The Dassault M.D.320 Hirondelle (Swallow) was a French 14-seat utility transport of the 1960s. In 1967 the French Air Force looked for a replacement for its Douglas DC-3 and Beechcraft 18 light transports and asked industry for designs powered by Turbomeca Astazou turboprops, and Dassault answered with a single prototype built quickly from Falcon 20 elements, including the fuselage, wing and control surfaces. The all-metal low-wing monoplane had a swept tail, retractable tricycle undercarriage with the main legs retracting into the engine nacelles, a crew of two and room for up to 14 passengers. The prototype first flew on 11 September 1968 at Bordeaux-Mérignac, but the air force then switched to wanting jets and no more were built. It was the last propeller-powered aircraft Dassault designed.