Editing Sud Aviation Caravelle (section)

===Further development===
[[File:2 et 3.02.1962. Michel Debré à Toulouse. L. Bazerque. Préfet Morin. (1962) - 53Fi3390 (cropped).jpg|thumb|Assembly hall in 1962, during a visit of French prime minister [[Michel Debré]]]]
Within four years of entering airliner service, a total of 172 Caravelles had been sold to a range of operators.<ref name = "doug 456">Dougal 1963, p. 456.</ref> Aviation writer M.G. Douglas attributed the type's favourable early sales record to the effective marketing campaign of performing demonstrations to prospective customers using the two prototypes, as well to the Caravelle having effectively no jet-powered rivals, being the only short-haul jetliner for several years following its introduction.<ref name = "doug 456"/> Several models of the Caravelle were developed and produced over the lifetime of the production run, often in response to the increasing power of the available engines, which allowed higher takeoff weights to be adopted.<ref name="López1"/>

By 1963, there were a total of six different versions of the Caravelle in production, designated ''III'', ''VI-N'', ''VI-R'', ''10A'', ''10B'', and ''X-BIR''.<ref name = "doug 457"/> Of these, the Caravelle III was considered to be the basic version of the airliner, while the other variants featured an increasing number of improvements. The Caravelle VI-N was equipped with more powerful Avon 531 engines and an additional [[heat exchanger]] for the [[air conditioning]], while the Caravelle VI-R, which had come about as a result of demands by U.S. carrier [[United Airlines]], was furnished with [[thrust reverser]]-equipped Avon 352s, a revised windscreen design, [[soundproofing]], a new luggage compartment door, and [[Spoiler (aeronautics)|wing spoiler]]s.<ref name = "doug 457"/>

The Caravelle 10A and 10B, which differed only in the engines used and were commonly referred to as the ''Super Caravelle'' (not to be confused with [[Sud Aviation Super-Caravelle|the later supersonic transport design]]), featured the improvements of the VI-R in addition to a high degree of further design changes.<ref name = "doug 457"/> The more high-profile modifications included a stretch of the fuselage by {{convert|33|inch|cm}}; a highly altered wing; an aerodynamic [[Aircraft fairing|fairing]] behind the fin of the tailplane; expanded cargo capacity via raised floor support struts; and higher cabin windows. Other changes included the adoption of variable-displacement pumps for the [[hydraulics|hydraulic]] system and the use of [[Alternating current|AC-based]] [[Electric generator|generator]]s in place of earlier [[Direct current|DC]] counterparts along with an [[auxiliary power unit]] (APU). The redesigned wing was equipped with double-slotted [[Flap (aeronautics)|Fowler flap]]s, additional and repositioned [[Stall strips|stall vanes]],{{clarify|reason=The wikilink is to the article about stall strips, however a stall vane and stall strip are not the same thing|date=November 2018}} aerodynamic improvements to the [[wing root]] and adjustments to the [[leading edge]] that improved the performance of the wing during the crucial takeoff and landing phases of flight.<ref name = "doug 457"/>
 
Despite its commercial success, however, the Caravelle was soon displaced from being the focus of Sud Aviation's development efforts as the majority of the company's design engineers were progressively reallocated onto an entirely new project that was intended to produce a successor to the Caravelle. The project was relatively ambitious, having the aim of producing a viable [[supersonic transport]] that possessed the same general size and range as the Caravelle. It was decided that the envisioned supersonic airliner should be naturally named after the firm's recent success, thus the [[Sud Aviation Super-Caravelle|Super-Caravelle]] name was applied to the design. Ultimately, the work on the Super-Caravelle would be merged with similar work that had been undertaken by Britain's [[Bristol Aeroplane Company]], and would result in the development of [[Concorde]].<ref name="López1"/>

In total, 282 Caravelles of all types were manufactured (2 prototypes or pre-production aircraft and 280 production aircraft); reportedly, Sud Aviation's projected break-even point for the type had been forecast to be around the 200-unit mark.<ref name="López1"/>