07/31/2012. The Société Nationale de Constructions Aéronautiques du Nord (known as SNCAN or just as Nord) entered the 1946 French Transport Ministry competition which called for a four-seat touring aircraft. The resultant Nord 1200 Norécrin emerged the winner of the competition with an order for the sponsored aero clubs. The Norécrin prototype first flew in December, 1945 and was a two/three-seat cabin monoplane with pronounced dihedral to its wings, a tall retractable tricycle landing gear and an 100 h.Mathis engine.

It soon became apparent that this low-powered engine seriously impaired the performance of the Norécrin with the result that an 140 hp Renault was fitted and the aircraft became a full three-seater. Seating capacity was subsequently raised to four and several versions of the Norécrin were built including some fairly large batches of machines sold to the Argentine and other South American countries. Norécrin were allocated serial numbers from c/n 1 to 378. Details of these postwar models are as follows:

1200 Norécrin. All-metal two/three-seat tourer based on Nord 1000 series (site files) with retractable tricycle landing gear and 100 hp Mathis G4R engine. Prototype F-WBBJ was first flown on December 15, 1945.
1201 Norécrin I. Production three-seat Norecrin with large rear windows and 140 hp Renault 4PO1 engine. Prototype F-WBBO (c/n 01).
1202 Norécrin. A Nord 1201 (F-BBKA c/n 02) fitted with 160 hp Potez 4DO1 engine.
1203 Norécrin II. Four-seat Norécrin with 135 hp Regnier 4L00 engine.
1203 Norécrin III. Norécrin II with modified landing gear.
1203 Norécrin IV. Norécrin II with 170 hp Regnier 4L02 engine and constant-speed propeller. Prototype F-BDHR (c/n 293).
1203 Norécrin V. Military two-seat Norécrin with 170 hp Regnier 4L02 engine and machine guns and rockets.
1203 Norécrin VI. Norécrin III with 145 hp Regnier 4L14 engine.
1204 Norécrin. The 1203 with 125 hp Continental engine.