Renault Restores Its Record-Breaking 1930s Racing Plane That Executives Forgot Existed

When aviation fans hear the name Rafale, they typically think of the French delta-wing multi-role fighter jet produced by Dassault. However, there's a famous Renault-built racing plane that bore the moniker decades earlier in the 1930s. The Renault Caudron Rafale C.460 won races and broke records, but faded from popular memory as air racing declined in prominence. The French automaker decided to restore the Rafale to mark the launch of a crossover SUV named after it. Surprisingly, the original aircraft became so obscure that executives at Renault didn't even know it controlled the rights to the Rafale name.

You would be right to assume that Renault wasn't founded as an aircraft manufacturer, but the company did produce aviation engines. To expand its footprint in the industry, the automotive giant acquired a controlling stake in French planemaker Caudron in 1933, which led to the subsidiary producing slender, streamlined aircraft. The C.460 was one of the first planes designed and built during this period. The single-engine monoplane was fitted with an inverted supercharged Renault inline-six engine that produced 310 horsepower, but the aircraft weighed only 1,146 pounds dry with its plywood frame and fabric skin.

As a complete package, the Rafale broke the world airspeed record for light aircraft on Christmas Day in 1934. Test pilot and World War I ace Raymond Delmotte flew the C.460 at an average speed of 314.32 miles per hour over a regulation 1.86-mile straight course. More famously, Hélène Boucher set the overall women's airspeed record with a Rafale the year prior, flying a 284-mph average. Along with the records, the C.460 claimed several notable race victories, including Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe and the National Air Races in Los Angeles.

The C.460 was retired from competition after 1936, and only three planes were ever built. Renault Caudron stopped producing planes during World War II, and the company was nationalized by the French government at the conflict's conclusion. Through various state consolidations and mergers over decades, Caudron would later become part of Aérospatiale, which was later rebranded Airbus in 2000.

Renault

Renault revived the Rafale name in 2023 to harken back to the era of daring aviators. However, I have no idea how airspeed records are related to a 349-hp hybrid crossover SUV. The French automaker's heritage fleet acquired its C.460 in March 2023 and admirably restored the plane back into flying condition. The old Rafale was on stage alongside the new Rafale when the car was launched at the Paris Air Show later that year. While it's partly a marketing stunt, it's impressive to see one of the industry's oldest automakers acknowledging the breadth of its history.