Air and Space Museum Le Bourget Airport.
The French Naval Aviation was the only European user of Piasecki´s HUP Retriever/H-25 Army Mule. The original HUP-1 was a winner of a US Navy competition for a light naval SAR helicopter for carriers as well as smaller vessels.
The upgraded version HUP-2, powered by a more powerful single Continental R075.42 550 hp (410 kW) radial engine, was the first helicopter equipped with an autopilot. France received 15 (19?) units for operations in Indochina and Algeria. A total of 339 helicopter of various versions were produced between 1949 and 1954.
