Hurel-Dubois HD.34 (F-BICV) Creil-Senlis, France August 2025

Hurel-Dubois HD.34 (F-BICV c/n 8).

Hurel-Dubois produced a family of aircraft, each having a thin wing and high aspect ratio. This original concept enables the aircraft to fly for extended periods with great stability, as well as having short take-off and landing characteristics. After the HD.10 was a single-engine, single-seater prototype and was followed by the twin-engine HD.31, HD.32, HD.321 and HD.34. Developed from the HD.32, the HD.34 had retractable landing gear and a glass nose. Only eight aircraft were built, specifically for aerial cartography, the first one delivered in 1957. The mapping surveys were conducted by the Institut Géographique National (National Geographic Institute-IGN), their HD.34s based at the Creil-Senlis airfield. IGN operated the HD.34 for nearly 30 years before they were retired in 1985. F-BICV is ‘Preserved’ at Creil-Senlis or is perhaps abandoned, the Aéroclub de Creil Chantilly Senlis has moved to Plessis-Belleville airfield, they apparently still own the aircraft. The HD.34 resides in the undergrowth besides a disused taxiway. Only three HD.34s have survived, the other two are; F-BICR c/n 4 now in the care of Air and Space Museum in Paris, and F-BHOO later F-AZNH c/n 1, preserved in a flyable condition at the Musée de l'Aviation de Melun Villaroche. HD.34 F-BHOO c/n 1 at Etampes in 1986.

Hurel-Dubois HD.34 (F-BICV c/n 8).