History of AirplanesFrench airplanes
The image is a Nieuport 17
The French answer to the Fokker Eindekker was the Nieuport 11, equipped with the 80 horse-power Le Rhône (later the 110 horse-power), and armed with a Lewis gun, mounted on the top plane and shooting over the propeller. The machine was superior to the Fokker — all WWI pilots agreed [...]
The Farman Brothers were among the pioneers in French aviation, Henri Farman winning several of the prizes offered in the first years of aviation development with his early machines. He came to this country for one of the International meets but, being a very conservative flyer, proved a disappointment to American spectators. From this beginning, [...]
The Standard J-R was a development of the preliminary training tractor machine built by the same makers. It was equipped with a 175-h.p. six-cylinder Hall-Scott motor, is capable of climbing 5000 feet in 10 minutes, and had a maximum flying speed of 95 m.p.h. and a landing speed of 48 m.p.h.
Specifications from “Practical Aviation,” by [...]
In 1911, MM. Voisin Freres experimented with a biplane characterized by the absence of a tail and the grouping of the elevation and direction rudders at the front, carried by a long central fuselage. This fuselage was attached at the rear to the main biplane cell. But airplane design moved quite the [...]
The original Voisin type was soon replaced by the type “Bordeaux,” quite different from the original in controls and structure. There were several innovations on this machine, notably the Gnome rotary engine of 11 cylinders set like the spokes of a wheel.
The under-carriage and tail-booms and much of the understructure was made of steel [...]
This machine, built by the Voisins and first experimented with in the late part of l909, embodied several unorthodox biplane features, but had little success. The Goupy and the Breguet, aeroplanes of this type, however, turned out to be much more practical.
Top Speed: 50 m.p.h.
Engine: 40 horse-power 4-cylinder Voisin
Wingspan: 37 [...]
In June, 1909, Roger Summer purchased a biplane constructed by Henri Farman, and on July 3d he made his first flight. Scarcely a month later he held the world’s record for duration of flight, having flown continuously for two and a halt hours. His sudden jump into the ranks of the [...]
The 1910 Paulhan biplane, actively discussed in aviation circles, was remarkable only for the strength and elasticity of its structure, and the ease with which it could be packed and shipped. Louis Paulhan, whose great exploits as an aeroplane pilot were well known, made a happy combination of a new type of [...]
One of the first machines designed by M. Goupy was a triplane with-a rear stabilizing cell, built for him by the Voisins and flown for short distances in the spring of 1908. The Goupy biplane, built in the Bleriot factory, resembled the Bleriot monoplanes in all the important features of its [...]
Early in 1909 Maurice Farman, a brother of the pioneer. Henri Farman, began his career as an aeroplane constructor, rivaling in due time his brother. Although up to the late summer of 1910 they conducted their business separately, the Farman brothers then worked in partnership, the H. Farman and the M. [...]