Aérospatiale SA 316/319 Alouette III

Updated: October 2026 – A small helicopter with a glass cabin hovers in front of a rock face, a rescuer dangles from the hoist, and above them whirs a turbine that sits on the fuselage with no cowling at all: that is the classic image of the Alouette III. Hardly any other helicopter has shaped mountain rescue in the Alps as much. Rega built its network with it, the Swiss Air Force flew it for almost half a century, and the Austrian Armed Forces had it in service until the end of 2023. Here you will learn where the “lark” comes from, why it was so strong at high altitude, how to recognize it reliably and where you can still see it today.

What is the Alouette III?

The Alouette III is a light single-engine utility helicopter with turbine power. “Alouette” is French for lark. It was created in the late 1950s as a larger, more powerful development of the Alouette II, one of the very first turbine helicopters. Compared with its predecessor, it offered an enclosed fuselage structure, considerably more room and noticeably better performance at high altitude.

The cabin holds up to seven people including the pilot, or alternatively two stretchers for patient transport. The most widely built version, the SA 316B, flies with a Turbomeca Artouste IIIB – a turbine that could deliver more power but is limited to around 425 to 440 kilowatts because of transmission limits. This very reserve was worth its weight in gold in the mountains: even in thin air there was still enough power available. The three-blade main rotor measures around eleven meters, the fuselage is about ten meters long, and the cruise speed is around 185 km/h. Turbomeca is now part of the Safran group as Safran Helicopter Engines.

History: from Marignane to the highest peaks

The SE 3160 prototype made its first flight on February 28, 1959, with test pilot Jean Boulet at the controls. It quickly showed what the machine could do: in June 1960 an Alouette III landed with seven people on board on Mont Blanc at a good 4,800 meters and took off again. At the end of 1960 the second prototype touched down in the Indian Himalayas at around 6,000 meters with two pilots and 250 kilograms of payload. For a helicopter of that era these were sensational figures – and the best advertising for mountain rescuers around the world.

The type received its certification in December 1961, by which time series production had already begun. The first version, later called the SA 316A, was followed by the SA 316B with a strengthened rotor and transmission and a higher takeoff weight. The SA 316C with a more powerful Artouste variant remained a small series. In July 1967 the SA 319B flew for the first time, achieving better fuel consumption with the more economical Astazou XIV. In 1970 Sud-Aviation merged into Aérospatiale, under whose name the Alouette III was built in France until 1985.

On top of that came extensive licensed production: in India Hindustan Aeronautics built the aircraft as the Chetak, in Romania around 250 units were built as the IAR 316, in Switzerland the Federal Aircraft Factory in Emmen assembled sixty SA 316Bs between 1970 and 1974 as the Alouette IIIS, and in the Netherlands part of the order was built locally. In total, more than 2,000 aircraft came together.

Aérospatiale’s helicopter division merged with MBB’s in 1992 to form Eurocopter, which has traded as Airbus Helicopters since 2014. That is why you find the Alouette III today in the lineage of Airbus – together with siblings such as the Gazelle and the Puma.

Version	Feature	Remark
SE 3160 / SA 316A	first production version, Artouste IIIB	max. 2,100 kg
SA 316B	strengthened rotor and transmission	main version, basis for licensed production
SA 316C	more powerful Artouste variant	only in small numbers
SA 319B Astazou	Turbomeca Astazou XIV	first flight July 1967
Alouette IIIS	licensed assembly in Emmen	60 for the Swiss Air Force
HAL Chetak	licensed production in India	still with Indian armed forces
IAR 316	licensed production in Romania	around 250 units, also for export

Rescue from the rock face: the Alouette III in Switzerland

No country is as closely associated with the Alouette III as Switzerland. The Swiss Air Force ordered its first aircraft directly in France in 1964 and later supplemented them with the sixty licensed aircraft from Emmen. In total, 84 Alouette IIIs flew in Swiss service. They transported troops and equipment, flew liaison and rescue missions and were in demand during storms and avalanches. The era ended in 2010 after 46 years; the remaining helicopters went to Pakistan’s disaster management authority. As a successor the Air Force procured the EC635, a military variant of the H135.

The Alouette III was at least as influential for civilian air rescue. In 1971 Rega received its first helicopter paid for entirely by donor contributions – an Alouette III. In the following years the type formed the backbone of the mountain bases, while the Bo 105 flew in the lowlands. The decisive feature was the rescue hoist on the side: with it, injured people could be recovered from rock faces and glacier crevasses where no helicopter can land. From the early 1990s Rega replaced its Alouettes with the Agusta A109 K2. Commercial mountain flying companies in the Valais also used the Alouette III for rescue and load transport.

How Swiss civil aircraft are marked is explained in the article on Swiss HB registrations. What you need to keep in mind legally when taking photos in Switzerland is covered in the guide Plane spotting in Switzerland.

Austria: over 50 years with the Armed Forces

In Austria too, the Alouette III was a familiar sight in the sky for decades. The Austrian Armed Forces introduced the type in the late 1960s and over time operated more than two dozen aircraft of the SE 3160 and SA 316B versions. The main base was the Fiala-Fernbrugg air base in Aigen im Ennstal; there were also sites in Klagenfurt and in Schwaz in Tyrol. That put the Alouette III exactly where the mountains demanded its strengths.

The range of missions was broad: search and rescue flights, disaster relief during avalanches and floods, transport for mountain troops, liaison flights and training. From 2005 three Austrian Alouettes were also permanently deployed abroad in the Balkans, among other things supporting the EUFOR mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The record also has a dark side: since the type’s introduction, seven aircraft have been lost in accidents, three of which claimed lives.

At the end of 2023 regular flight operations ended, and on May 24, 2024 the official retirement followed. Its place is taken by the Leonardo AW169, of which the Austrian Armed Forces have ordered 36 in total – as a training version and as a military multirole version. The first AW169s arrived in Aigen at the end of 2022.

For spotters in Austria, it is worth taking a look at the rules: the article Plane spotting in Austria summarizes what applies at airports and military facilities, and the guide to military airfields shows where the limits lie when taking photos. You recognize civil-registered helicopters in Austria by the OE prefix; more on that in the article on Austrian OE registrations.

In service worldwide – and retired almost everywhere

The Alouette III flew with numerous armed forces and agencies around the globe. In France the army, air force and navy used the type; the French Navy ended its use during 2022 after around 60 years of service. Many other European armed forces, too, retired their Alouettes long ago:

Country	End of service
Denmark	1982, replaced by the Westland Lynx
French Air Force	2004
Ireland	September 2007, after 44 years
Switzerland	2010, after 46 years
French Army	2013
Netherlands	2016, after 51 years
Portugal	April 2020
French Navy	2022 (official farewell in June, last aircraft until year-end)
Austria	flight operations until the end of 2023, retirement May 2024

The story is much more alive in India. The HAL Chetak continues to fly there with various branches of the armed forces, with training now playing an important role. In addition, a few countries in Africa, Asia and South America still have Alouette IIIs in service. Which ones exactly keeps changing – rely on current sources before planning a trip.

The features that are enough to identify it

Final certainty comes from the registration or the military serial number. In tracking services the type shows up as ALO3 if a transponder is transmitting data; how to track down helicopters there is shown in the guide Helicopters on the flight tracker.

Alouette III, Lama or Gazelle?

The French light helicopters of the 1960s and 1970s look similar at first glance. The finder helps narrow it down.

Other candidates: the H125, formerly the AS350 Ecureuil, also has three blades, but a modern, fully faired fuselage and skids. The Dauphin is larger, twin-engine and carries a fenestron. The Bell 206 JetRanger looks similarly compact but flies with only two rotor blades. For a complete overview, see the article Identifying helicopter types.

Where you can still see the Alouette III today

In German-speaking countries, a flying Alouette III is now a real rarity. Armed forces and major rescue organizations have retired the type; in the air you may at most encounter individual civil-registered aircraft owned by private operators or specialist companies. You have much better chances on the ground.

Place	Chance of a hit	Why
Aviation museums focused on military aircraft or helicopters	medium to high	retired aircraft as exhibits
Flieger-Flab-Museum Dübendorf	medium	focus on Swiss military aviation
Airshows and fly-ins	low	occasional civil vintage helicopters
Alpine airports such as Innsbruck	low	helicopter traffic in the mountains, but hardly any Alouettes left
Trips to India	high	HAL Chetak still in military service

For museum visits, besides Dübendorf, the Swiss Museum of Transport in Lucerne and the Helicopter Museum Bückeburg are good options; the latter documents the development of rotary-wing aircraft comprehensively. Which aircraft are on display changes – check before your visit. If you want to experience helicopter traffic in the mountains, the observation deck at Innsbruck Airport is a good starting point. You can judge whether your sighting is really rare with the article How rare is my sighting?.

Photo tips specifically for the Alouette III

As with any helicopter, the shutter speed decides the effect. If too short an exposure freezes the three rotor blades, the aircraft looks like a model in flight.

Details on exposing rotating blades are in the guide Photographing propellers: the right shutter speed. General tips on rotary-wing aircraft can be found under Helicopter spotting. With the sun position planner in Planetrack you can also see in advance when the light is right at your spot.

Common mix-ups and how to rule them out

Conclusion

The Alouette III is a piece of Alpine history. In it, pilots landed on Mont Blanc in 1960, with it Rega built up its mountain rescue, and in Austria it took off for the Armed Forces for over half a century. Today it is almost only seen in museums in central Europe – and that is exactly why it is a coveted entry for any collection. Exposed turbine, three blades, nose wheel landing gear and the glazed cabin give away the type, and the serial number tells the story of the individual aircraft. Its mountain rescue duties are now taken over by more modern types, from the Airbus program for example the H145 and the H135.