One of the ramjet's main problems is its absence of thrust when it is motionless. To obtain an initial speed necessary
for the startup of the engine, Rene Leduc thought of releasing his apparatus at altitude from a transporter aircraft.
The selected aircraft was a four-engine transport SE-161 "Languedoc" especially modified.
On November 19th 1946 the first flight was accomplished. The flight of the Leduc 010 on April 21st 1949 with its ramjet operating
represents the first flight of an aircraft solely propelled by a ramjet engine.
After this success, the tests were conducted with full force, and in just a few flights, the Leduc 010 proved the extraordinary
capabilities of the "athodyd" engine, in particular its incredible rate of climb.
A second 010 was built. Rene Leduc in 1951 continued the testing in the South of France, at Istres in the Provence region.
A trial run was carried out by the CEV (French flight test center). Unfortunately, following a technical failure, this trial run was ended
with the destruction of the one of the 010, and with its pilot seriously wounded. The following year, it was Yvan Littolff who was also
seriously wounded, in an other accident, which resulted in the destruction of the second 010. The flights continued on the 016,
which was then joined by two new much larger planes: the Leduc 021s.
The two 021s completed their career when the Leduc 022 accomplished its first flights, in December of 1956.
It was equipped with a centrally mounted turbojet, which enabled it to take off and fly on its own power, without the assistance
of a transporter airplane. It totaled 141 flights during the following year, until a taxiing incident caused damages to the fuselage.
The tests were definitively cancelled in 1958, and Rene Leduc was constrained to give up his work as an aircraft manufacturer.