The four-seater Bleriot “Aero-bus,” first flown in February, 1911, at Pau, was a very marked departure from the usual Bleriot types. The passengers sat under the main plane, as on the old No. XII, and as many as nine passengers were carried with ease. The huge propeller, 10 feet in diameter, was driven by a [...]
After his famous cross-Channle flight in his type XI airplane, Louis Bleriot also designed a passenger-carrying type of monoplane, the No. XII., which differed in structure from the No. XI. A type similar in form to the No. XII. is the small No. XIII., with which Bleriot attained high speed at Rheims in 1909. On [...]
This machine, better known as the “type militaire,” resembled in detail the other Bleriot products, but differed greatly in size, in the fact that it was a two-seater, and in the construction of the fan-shaped tail. Like all the later Bleriot products, the dashboard in front of the seats was equipped with many instruments, such [...]
Resembling a giant dragonfly, with its long thin body and delicate wings, the Antoinette IV, introduced in October 1908, was an aerodynamically advanced monoplane. It featured a slim fuselage, trapezoidal wings with marked dihedral, and cruciform tail. It was the first practical monoplane with ailerons, although they performed poorly and were replaced with wing warping [...]
The Farman III (or Farman 3) was the first airplane to use ailerons (or flaps) as control surfaces, a great improvement over the Wrights’ method wing-warping. Henri Farman had purchased a biplane, the Voisin-Farman I, from the Voisin company, and was ready to buy another, but Voisin sold Farman’s plane to another customer. Angered, Farman [...]
In 1906-07, the Voisin brothers had designed and built a pusher biplane, powered by an Antoinette V-8 engine, that took off on wheels and flew reasonably well. Purchased and modified by French aviation pioneer Henri Farman, a Voisin biplane, in January 1908, became the first airplane in Europe to fly a one kilometer circuit. Later [...]
click to enlarge Louis Bleriot rose at 2:30 in the morning in July 25, 1909, and, found that the conditions were favorable for his flight that day. He ordered the torpedo boat destroyer Escopette, which had been placed at his disposal by the French Government, to start. Then he went to the garage at Sangatte [...]
click to enlarge Charles and Gabriel Voisin were France’s answer to the Wright Brothers. In 1904, they established a factory for the production of gliders and experimental machines, designing primitive biplanes in 1906. Having constructed a power machine for Leon Delagrange, Charles Voisin made his first power flight in it, a short hop of 10 [...]
On the fall day of November 12, 1906, Parisians saw something that they had become accustomed. The Brazilian engineer, Alberto Santos-Dumont was attempting to fly again. He continued his series of experiments with his nearly-perfected aeroplane, the 14-Bis (also known as the ‘Bird of Prey’), in the Bois de Boulogne that morning, making two flights [...]
Most widely produced military aircraft of the interwar period The “Question Mark” made the Paris – New York flight in 1930 an aircraft featured on the Hall of Fame of the Air Captain Dieudonne Costes and navigator Maurice Bellonte flew this specially modified red Breguet 19, “Point d’Interrogation,” or “Question Mark” on the first non-stop, [...]