Editing SNCASE Armagnac (section)

==Operational history==
[[File:SE.2010 Armagnac 1953 Paris Air Show 286-MP-par-05190.jpg|thumb|left|F-BAVH at 1953 Paris Air Show]]
[[File:F-BAVI.jpg|thumb|left|F-BAVI used at the 1956 Olympic Games, Melbourne, Australia]]

At the time, the Armagnac was one of the largest civil aircraft ever built with a wingspan of almost 50 meters and weight over 77 tonnes. The capacious pressurized cabin (with a near-circular fuselage section with 4.7 m/ 15&nbsp;ft width and height) was intended for a three tier sleeping compartment configuration which ultimately was not fitted to any of the S.E.2010 versions. The fuselage was left with a good deal of unusable space with only open luggage shelves mounted in the upper fuselage.<ref>[[#refStroud1993|Stroud 1993]], p. 60.</ref>

Initial production of 15 aircraft was planned for delivery to launch customer [[Air France]]. After evaluation of the prototype by Air France, the airline declined delivery in 1952 when the first production aircraft was ready, citing inadequate performance. Despite being designed for transatlantic service, the aircraft's range of 5,000&nbsp;km, fell short of the 6,500&nbsp;km required range for this use. Additionally, the aircraft was too large to be operated profitably for shorter range routes.

Including the sole prototype, only nine aircraft were built with TAI (''[[Transports Aériens Intercontinentaux]]'') (later [[Union des Transports Aeriens|UTA]]) evaluating the first production aircraft in April 1952. A total of four S.E.2010s were delivered to TAI in December 1952, who used them for eight months and then discarded them as unprofitable.  The aircraft passed to SAGETA (the ''Société Auxiliaire de Gérance et d'Exploitation de Transport Aériens'') in 1953 who operated seven Armagnacs to ferry cargo, mail and troops from [[Toulouse]] to [[Saigon]] in [[French Indochina]]. They were highly regarded in this role, but French rule in the area was almost over and they were surplus by mid-1954.

Most Armagnacs were broken up in 1955 although two were used to transport the French contingent to the 1956 Olympic Games held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Jack Russell, a retired Australian Air Traffic Controller fondly recalled the Armagnac which was the most distinctive of the various aircraft types to visit Australia for the Games. His description: "...an 80-ton aircraft which resembled two shipping containers welded together lengthways with a wing and two under-powered engines protruding on each side. The aircraft's performance matched its appearance."<ref name="Melbourne 1956">[http://www.airwaysmuseum.com/EN%20olympic%20terminal%201956.htm "Olympic Terminal, Essendon - 1956."] ''Airways Museum & Civil Aviation Historical Society'', 2009. Retrieved: 1 May 2009.</ref> Visiting aircraft were ferried to [[Mangalore Airport (Australia)|Mangalore Airport]]. While passing above a Mangalore-bound Armagnac, a [[Trans Australia Airlines]] pilot when asked to report the S.E. 2010's position, exclaimed "If it's that block of flats below us, we're passing it now!" <ref name="Melbourne 1956"/> F-BAVI, one of the Melbourne caravan was the last SNCASE Armagnac survivor, and was scrapped in 1975 at Bordeaux/Merignac after having lain derelict for many years.