Eole Credit - via Jean-Jacques Serra

Test vehicle. Family:

Second missile developed by Jean-Jacques Barre and end of that lineage.

On 17 May 1946 the French DEFA Agency established the LRBA (Ballistics and Aeronautical Research Laboratory). Jean-Jacques Barre was authorised to develop an improved version of his EA 1941 wartime indigenous rocket design on 15 October, 1946. This development was in competition with the Veronique, being developed for LRBA by a German team. Barre's EA 1946, powered by a liquid oxygen/gasoline engine with a 100 kN thrust, was intended to be a credible army weapon. Static tests began in February 1949 in Vernon, but it took three years and a switch to ethanol fuel to obtain stable combustion. Two flight tests in 1952 ended in failure. After six years the German design teams had produced better results, and the French military decided storable propellant engines offered more promise. The project was cancelled.

Manufacturer: LRBA. Launches: 2. Failures: 2. Success Rate: 0.00%. First Launch Date: 1952-11-22. Last Launch Date: 1952-11-24. Launch data is: complete. Liftoff Thrust: 100.000 kN (22,480 lbf). Total Mass: 3,400 kg (7,400 lb). Standard warhead mass: 275 kg (606 lb). Maximum range: 800 km (490 mi).

1946 October 15 - EA 1946 development authorised The improved version of the EA 1941 is dubbed Eole and will use a fuel-cooled combustion chamber walls.

1949 February 4 - Eole engine bench tests begin The engine runs for 13.5 seconds, 4.5 seconds early, due to heavier-than-expected liquid oxygen consumption.

1950 January 6 - Eole engine explodes The engine begins oscillatory combustion at 20 seconds and explodes violently at 34 seconds. The explosion is visible 40 km from the LRBA test site at Vernon.

1951 September 25 - Eole successful engine test The liquid oxygen/alcohol engine produces 9.59 tonnes thrust and an exhaust velocity of 2110 m/s.

1952 September 30 - Eole program terminated The Veronique developed by the LRBA German team has been more successful and the French military sees no use for rockets using liquid oxygen on the battlefield.

1952 November 22 - Hammaguira -. FAILURE: Failed after seven seconds of flight. Test mission Apogee: 0 km ( mi). Weeks of delays due to problems with getting liquid oxygen to the remote test site have delayed Barre's entry in the fly-off against the Veronique. The first Eole broke up after 7 seconds of flight, a failure attributed to tracer flares fitted to the fins.

1952 November 24 - Hammaguira -. FAILURE: Failed after 25 seconds of flight. Test mission Apogee: 2.95 km (1.83 mi). The tracers used on the last flight were omitted. This rocket again loses its fins, but continued to an altitude of 2.95 km. It is determined that the fins were not able to withstand going through the sound barrier.