The only gap in Voisin Biplane shows what one would expect from vintage airplanes: a somewhat awkward design with double cloth-covered lids; propeller; aerodynamic surface protruding ahead of its glider; and a square tail that resembles a serpent. But, by the standards of 1907, he was considered "advanced."
His designer, Gabriel Voysin, son of a provincial engineer, was born in Belgium, France, in 1880, initially demonstrating mechanical and aeronautical abilities thanks to his boat, car and kite interests. A Clement Ader admirer, he studied as an architect and draftsman at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts in Lyon, and was later introduced to Ernest Archdeacon, a wealthy lawyer and aviation enthusiast who allegedly commissioned him to develop a glider.
Using inaccurate and incomplete drawings of the Wright brothers, 1902, published in Aerofil magazine, Aero Club magazine, Voisin built a glider in January 1904, which only resembled its original. Spontaneous double wings, separated by vertical partitions, a front lift plane and a two-chamber box tail, he was deprived of Wright's method of deforming the wing, and there had previously been no means by which to perform lateral control. Two-thirds the size of the original, he was 40 pounds lighter.
Backed by floats and tied to a Panhard-engineined motorboat, the glider attempted to make the first battle from the River Seine on June 8, 1905, as described by Voisin himself. “Gradually and carefully (the helmsman) raised the slack of my towing cable ...” he wrote. "I had the controls ready, I waited for a while, and then I used the elevator."
Practically air-ejected, suddenly affecting its aerodynamic surfaces, it rose as high as relief top trees, but an unstable glider unable to control its lateral axis, almost as sharply descended to water after 50 feet, the trajectory of a curvilinear curve, plunging below the surface and briefly plunging your pilot.
Despite the unsuccessful attempt, Louis Bleoti, who witnessed this event, subsequently approached Voisin to build a second frame for him.
Based on the first, he showed a smaller wingspan with a greater curvature and inclined vertical side panels and a single-cell tail, but he suffered a similar fate: covering about 100 feet during an 18-year test flight, it immediately slipped off after taking off into the air, again plunging into the river.
Despite its inherent lack of control over the rolls, it nevertheless served as the basis on which subsequent Voisin and other early European projects were based.
Voisin and Bleriot, in short, forming a joint partnership, produced equally unsuccessful aircraft, which was largely explained by radical, constantly changing ideas. For example, the Bleriot III wore elliptical wings and was equipped with Antoinette's engine with a power of 24 hp, but could not achieve a sufficient lift with floats. Reconfigured as a ground vehicle with a wheeled chassis and a second engine, she collided with a rock during its acceleration, bouncing through a ditch, turning over and abruptly stopping its journey with the cooperation of Voisin-Bleriot.
Gabriel Voysin, who bought out interest in Bleriot in 1906, reformed the company with his brother Charles, creating “Appareils d & aviation Les Freres Voisin” or “Voisin Brothers Flying Machines”, establishing, as an extension of Bleriot, the company, the first European aircraft manufacturer in Billancourt, financial support from Enest Archdeacon and three others. In fact, the aviation industry has begun.
The team of Gabriel and Charles Voysin ironically reflected their colleagues from Orville and Wilber Wright on the Atlantic. Gabriel, for example, the eldest of the two and the chief engineer, provided most of the jolt and direction, while Charles usually assumed a supporting role. As in the case of the two teams, in 1912 they would have been halved when one of the two brothers succumbed to death unrelated to aviation, although the parallel was compared here: Wilbur, the eldest of the two, died of typhoid fever, while like Charles, the youngest of them, died in a car accident. However, Gabriel and Charles were ranked among the leading pioneers of early aviation in Europe.
Their first aircraft, mainly based on Wright gliders with a front elevator and equal-run wings and equipped with a 20-hp Bushe engine, was essentially a box-driven kite designed for Henry Kupferr in March 1907, but failed to fly. The second, commissioned by Leon Delagrange - a sculptor and contemporary of Voisin at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts - compiled his first standard duck, a bishop-pusher, which included the characteristics of several then aviators, including Octuta Chanuta (biplane wings), Brothers Wright (front elevator ) and Lawrence Hargrave (his boxed tail).
Possessing a square steel-frame fuselage that served as a common attachment point for its front lift aircraft, its pilot seat, its wings, its engine and tail, it had a double rectangular shape, superimposed wings that were stretched 37.8 feet, and cotton and rubber fabrics, designed "continental cotton", were stretched over the ribs. They had a depth of 6.56 feet, an aspect ratio of 5.75 and 1, and a total area of 496 pounds.
Like his predecessor, his airframe, they were strong and strong, but lacked either the method of lateral deformation of the wing or the aileron. instead, they contained four vertical planes or partitions, set at fixed intervals, which divided them into separate cells. Although Voisin intended to provide them with the necessary lateral stability, and Bergett highly appreciated this configuration of the vertical keel, banking was attributed to the broad, sluggish turns caused by the steering.
In front of the fuselage frame, a single 41-square foot height protruded, and a shank with a kite, divided into two cells, was attached behind it, which would be typical of Voisin. until 1910.
Invented in 1893 by the Australian Lawrence Hargrave, the structure subdivided into side cages showed the concept of a tandem wing introduced by Alberto Santos-Dumont with his 14 bis biplane and occupied by Samuel Pierpon Langley. Despite the fact that this led to a particularly strong structure, Hargrave himself stopped his own experiments with the kite glider when he experienced a series of hard landings. The construction method used by European aircraft was evaluated along with ailerons, the tractor biplane configuration (as opposed to the plunger) and the pitch movement in front of the aircraft, as one of the four main design improvements until mid-1900.
A 25-square-foot rotating steering wheel attached to the center of the rear cells provided control in a vertical axis.
The power was provided by Antoinette's 50 hp engine, developed by Lev Levavas, mounted on the rear of the central frame behind the main biplane, operating in a pusher configuration and operating a two-bladed metal propeller with a diameter of 7.6 feet, mounted on 4.6-th.
Turning under the nose at a high angle on the ground, the plane was supported by two large pneumatically tired wheels with spring shock absorbers, while two additional, albeit smaller, blocks served as tail wheels. The other, attached under the front lift plane, provided protection during landing on the nose.
An open cockpit consisting of a single wicker seat, installed between the main wings; the leading edges and the powerplant had a circular steering wheel that crossed the front lift plane forward and backward using tappets, and the left and right rotation activated the steering direction along the wire.
The 1,250-pound Voisin Biplane, the first flight in 1907, lifted 23 pounds per horsepower and 2.37 pounds per square foot of wing surface, reaching a speed of 35 miles per hour.
Gradually getting acquainted with the type, which was alternatively designated “Voisin-Delagrange”, Delagrange was able to overcome 500 meters by the autumn of 1907.
Having shot down during the second of two flights to Issy-les-Molino in November, he was rebuilt as Voisin-Delagrange II, using as many original spare parts as possible, while the subsequent, more maneuverable "III" differed curtains on its two internal main interplanar rack.
A little bigger and heavier, the next Voisin Biplane, designated “Voisin-Farman”, was built for Henry (Franch Henri) Farman, whose father was a Paris-based English correspondent. Speaking in both French and English, Henry actively participated in bike and car races, but after getting injured in the James Gordon Bennett car race in 1905, he raised his interest in aviation, first trying to get on the Chanute-Herring glider before How to order a biplane from Voisin Brothers.
Having received permission to practice on the military site of Issy-les-Moulineaux, located on the left bank of the River Seine in the shadow of the Societe Astra and Klement-Bayard hangars, he quickly improved by carrying out accelerated rolls on a flat, unobstructed, dusty field, which often became dirty during rainy conditions. Following his example, other novice aeronautics also found that its surface favored air experiments, soon establishing a more permanent presence there with wooden sheds until the area, like College Park in Maryland, turned into the first practical "airport" in Europe. Countless spectators observed an increasing amount of flight activity, which later suggested a more structured form of air race.
In order to stimulate the development of aviation in France, Aero Club created several more challenging applicants back in 1904 in exchange for an increase in cash rewards. For example, a silver trophy was offered for the 25-meter coupe of Ernest the Archdeacon, and a silver medal and 100 francs were awarded to the first ten pilots who could fly 60 meters. Further and monetary compensation increased to 100 meters and 1,500 francs, respectively, while the Deutsch-Archdeacon Aviation Grand Prix, requiring a one-kilometer circular pattern, had a reward of 50,000 francs.
By transferring his abilities from ground racing to aerial flights expressed by the Voisin-Farman I biplane, Farman achieved exponential success. For example, on September 30, 1907, he made a 30-meter flight. This increased to 285 meters on October 15, and after 11 days, he covered 2.540 feet in a record 52.6 seconds in his modified Voisin-Farman I-bis, which had dihedral wings and a monoplane surface. Unofficially completing the 3,380-foot circuit on November 9, in one minute, 14 seconds, he exceeded the Wright Brothers on December 17, 1903 by 15 seconds, the first European attempt to do so. And on January 13 of the following year, he won the coveted Grand Prix of 50,000 francs at the Eycy-le-Mulino when he flew one kilometer of circular course in one minute, 28 seconds. Since the lateral control - devoid of the plane had to make very wide turns with the help of his steering alone, however, he actually covered the distance closer to 1.6 kilometers. It was the longest sector in Europe.
Constantly changing his plane, he restored his surface with rubberized linen, reduced its span in the tail section and replaced its original engine with Antoinette by 50 hp. Renault, although it was quickly restored after one demonstration, creating the first practical European design in the process,
He continued to take remote recordings: on March 20 he flew 4500 meters in three minutes, 29 seconds; On June 23, he traveled more than 14 kilometers in 18 minutes, 30 seconds in Milan; and on July 6, he won a prize of 10,000 francs for the first flight, to stay in the air for more than 15 minutes, flying 20.4 kilometers in 20 minutes, 20 seconds in Ghent, Belgium.
One fan commented: "What George W. Stevenson did for the locomotive, Farman did for the plane."
Subjected to constant modification, the main project of Voisin Biplane, which was sold in significant quantities, appeared with Antoinette, ENV, Gnome, Itala, Renault and Vivinus engines with 50 and 60 horsepower, devoid of its front lift plane, and with ailerons, eliminating its significant shortage.
An example of the Old Rhinebeck airfield, the original, built by Norwin K. Reeke from Easton, Pa., In 1909, included several non-standard features, including a chromo-molded welded steel tubular frame that replaced the original wooden one, and a V-8 of its own design.
Analysis and storage in the rafters of his rope and rope company after only half a dozen fights, he was discovered by Cole Palen 62 years later. He restored it to his Florida home in 1973, showing it at the airfield until he was rented out to two other prestigious museums in 1979: the National Museum of Aviation and Cosmonautics in Washington and the Unmanned Sea and Air Museum in New York. Returning home, he now remains at the exhibition in a new museum, towering on a hill opposite the pioneering, World War I and Lindbergh hangars.
The classic profile of a duck, pusher, and Voisin Biplane boxing kite, as its early side control limitations and slow wide aerial turnarounds never became one of the most significant practical pioneer aircraft between 1907 and 1910.
