SNCASO SO.1221 Djinn

The Sud-Ouest SO.1221 Djinn was a French two-seat light helicopter, designed and built by SNCASO, which later merged into Sud Aviation. It was the first production French helicopter and the first production rotorcraft to use tip-jet propulsion: a Turbomeca Palouste gas turbine drove a pump that fed compressed air to the tips of the hollow rotor blades, so no anti-torque tail rotor was needed and directional control came from deflecting the engine exhaust. A single-seat test machine, the SO.1220, flew on 2 January 1953, and the first two-seat SO.1221 flew on 16 December 1953. The French Army ordered 100 helicopters, the German Army bought six, and ten further countries ordered the type, including for liaison, observation, training, casualty evacuation and crop spraying. Production ended in the mid-1960s after 178 had been built, as the more conventional Alouette II and Alouette III took over.