Robert Esnault-Pelterie
References, except where otherwise
indicated, are to Le Matin
Archives Nationales, Paris. MS F/12/8587
Dossier on Robert Esnault-Pelterie as
candidate for the Croix de Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, nominated by the
prefect of La Seine [Delaunay?], 4 October 1912.
His full name: Robert Albert Charles
Esnault-Pelterie. Born 8 November 1881, in Paris 9e. He belongs to an ancient
and very honorable family of industrialists. He is a specialist in the building
of monoplanes, and occupies a ‘place considerable’ in the aviation industry.
(March 1912) ‘Note resumée concernant’ R.
E-P, an ‘aviateur-constructeur’. Licencié Es-Sciences at age 19.
He is one of the first three aviators in
France to have left the ground using a heavier-than-air machine.
He holds licence [‘brevet’] No. 4 of Pilote
Aviateur from the AéroClub de France.
He is the only aviator, besides the Wright
brothers, to have invented and built his own aircraft and motors, and to have
piloted the aircraft himself.
1902 Entered aviation as an inventor and
has pursued it since ceaselessly.
1904 Started trials to verify the
experiments of the Wright brothers.
1905 Studied the efficiency [‘rendement’]
of surfaces at up to 100 kph with the help of an automobile specially equipped
for the purpose.
1906 Designed and himself built the first
monoplane of the type currently adopted, with a radial motor [‘moteur en
étoile’] with an uneven number of cylinders.
1907 Received the Grande Médaille d’Or of
the Société de Ingénieurs Civils de France, for his aircraft engine.
1908(June) Made a flight of 1,500 metres to
a height of 30-40 metres, a record for the time.
1908-1910
Lectured in French, English and Russian on aviation
1909 Founded the Association des Industriels
de la Locomotion Aérienne, and is appointed president.
1909 The Russian Emperor gave him the Cross
of St. Anne for a lecture (attended by the Emperor) at Tsarkoye-Selo.
1909-11 Appointed by confrères as
Commissaire Géneral pour les Expositions de la Locomotion Aérienne, which he
organized at the Grand Palais with great success.
1910
The 1909 Association combined with the Chambre Syndicale des Industries
Aéronautiques. He was appointed president.
1910 Appointed assistant to the Chaire
d’Aviation, University of Paris (Zaharoff Foundation).
1910
Vice-president of the group Locomotion Aérienne à l’Exposition de
Bruxelles; and was appointed to the jury and as rapporteur.
1910 Achieved speed record over 100
kilometres with a passenger, winning the Coupe Deperdussin. The pilot was
Laurens [presumably flying an Esnault-Pelterie aircraft]
1910 Beat all records for speed over a
distance of 250 kilometres or greater, with a flight of 530 kilometres in 6
hours, 29 minutes 31 seconds, officially witnessed. The pilot was Pierre-Marie.
He took the record again in 1912 for a flight of more than 300 kilometres.
1911 Vice-president of the Groupe
d’Aviation at the Exposition of Turin.
1911 The first two aircraft he supplied to
the French Army won, in the reception trials, a prize of 3,000 francs, per
aircraft, for the amount of fuel still in their tanks after two hours of
operation. This was the largest prize awarded.
1911 In the European Circuit [‘Circuit
Européen’], Gibert, in an Esnault-Pelterie aircraft, came first in the
Liège-Utrecht stage, first in the crossing of the English Channel, and second
in the Calais-Paris stage (only three minutes behind the leader and forty
minutes ahead of the next aircraft). His was the only aircraft with a motor
from the same builder. Neither aircraft nor motor needed any repair during the
1,600 kilometre event. This was unique among competitors.
1912 In the Paris-Amiens-Paris circuit ten
aircraft were entered, but only three left, because of bad weather. Only the
Esnault-Pelterie machine, piloted by Molla, completed the route and arrived in
the desired time.
Esnault-Pelterie has set up at Billancourt,
for the study and building of his aircraft and motors, an important industrial
establishment, requiring large investment, and now employing more than 130
engineers, designers, clerks, foremen, and workers. He is a member of the
Commission Technique pour la Protection des Aviateurs, instituted at the
Préfecture de la Seine. He is also a member of the Commission de la Navigation
Aérienne created at the Ministry of
Public Works.
The printed cover sheet for all the above,
dated 1912, shows an address of 11, Rue de Milan, Paris. It also gives
Esnault-Pelterie’s military service: he was a sergeant in the Régiment des
Sapeurs du Corps 0.1232, Classe 1901. He was incorporated into the fifth
Regiment du Génie, 14 November 1902. He was a sapeur télégraphiste; and
corporal on 14 November 1903.
He has been an ‘industriel’ since November
1906.
[Also in this file is the Légion d’Honneur
dossier of Albert Esnault-Pelterie, born in 1842, living at 11, Rue de Milan,
Paris. He is a cotton industrialist. Chevalier of the Légion d’Honneur in 1904,
‘officier’ in 1909. He is described as a ‘père de famille’, and was indeed
Robert Esnault-Pelterie’s father. His ‘House of cotton cloth, white and
printed’ is at 5-7, Rue St. Fiacre, Paris. It was founded in 1788 by his
grandfather, and is now (1912) called Esnault-Pelterie, Barbat, Massin et Cie.
The company has 200 workers, a branch in Lille, and a tissage [weaving mill?]
in Amiens. Albert Esnault-Pelterie in 1900 was the President of the Syndicat
Général de l’industrie Cotonnière Française.]
…………………………..
1907
Lucien Marchis et al, Vingt-cinq ans
d’Aéronautique française, 2 vols., Chambre Syndicale des Industries
Aéronautiques, Paris 1934.
Vol. 1, p. 48 The first Esnault-Pelterie
aircraft, in 1907, used [for control] a single lever working according to the
reflexes of the pilot. This design was patented. For example, if the nose
drops, the pilot pulls back on the lever. If a wing drops, the pilot pulls the
lever in the opposite direction [using a wing warping mechanism {p. 50}].
Esnault-Pelterie was the originator of
star-shaped aero engines [in 1906-7?]. There is a reference here to his
communication of the theory of ‘star
shaped motors with an uneven number of cylinders’ to the Société des Ingénieurs
Civils de France, 8 November 1907.
……………………………..
19 July 1907
p. 6
‘Aéroplane mystérieux’
Near Vaux-de-Cernay, on the shore of a pond
called Trou-Salé, and in front of large grass area, a splendid hangar has been
built; It contains an ‘aéroplane uni-plan’ [single wing] with motor and propeller in the
nose. It resembles a Blériot 2. The four cylinders of the engine are arranged
in a star pattern. The motor is apparently an ultra-light machine built by its
inventor (who owns the aircraft – which will soon be tried).
[The owner’s name is not given. But in
another article in Le Matin, of 14
August 1907, p. 5., are references to Robert Esnault-Pelterie’s aircraft,
stored near the pond of Trou-Salé]
……………………………
23 October 1907
p. 5
Esnault-Pelterie has built at Buc, near Versailles, a monoplane, which
has been being tested for several weeks past. Its first success came yesterday,
when the machine flew c. 150 metres, at a height to 3-5 metres.
…………………………..
28 October 1907
p. 5
Yesterday, at Trou-Salé, near Buc, there was an official trial of
Esnault-Pelterie’s aircraft. The flight stopped because of a ‘false manoeuvre’
of the forward rudder [elevator?]. The aircraft pitched up and lost speed –
then fell flat for 2-3 metres. The left wing broke; there was other damage.
Present were Besançon, Delagrange, Archdeacon, Santos-Dumont, Charles Voisin,
Colliex, Garnier, Tissandier, Bougier, Blanchat, de Mastrand, Buisson, et al
[not specified]. The machine is a momoplane. Its has a four bladed propeller.
…………………………..
2 November
La
Vie au Grand Air, No. 476
An article by ‘H.P’. ‘Un nouveau aéroplane’
This is Esnault-Pelterie’s monoplane, flown
at Buc [just south of Versailles] last Saturday and Sunday (i.e. at the Trou
Salé between Buc and Toussus). [The ‘trou salé’ was a lake originally used in
the time of Louis XIV to supply water to the Versailles fountains.] The motor
has seven cylinders, in two rows, arranged in a fan, and makes 30 hp. The aircraft manoeuvres with great facility.
It flew at 3-4 metres height. (The distance flown is not stated.)
19 November, p.5.
On 17 November Esnault-Pelterie again tried
his monoplane at Buc. A bad accident was narrowly avoided. The aircraft pitched
up at about 12 metres altitude, and then came to earth. Esnault-Pelterie was
not hurt, but the propeller and the wing attachments [‘charnières’] received
some serious damage.
…………………………..
22 November, p.5.
After observing Santos-Dumont at Bagatelle
[in the Bois de Boulogne] the officials of the AéroClub de France hastened to
Buc, where Esnault-Pelterie was to try for the 150 metre award. But his motor produced little power, and his
attempt is postponed until tomorrow.
………………………….
23 November, p.5
Esnault-Pelterie (the ‘sympathique
aviateur’) hit some obstacle on take off yesterday while trying for the 1,500
metre award at Buc. The wheel was damaged.
…………………………
1908
21 April, p.6.
Esnault-Pelterie has now made two new
aircraft, to be tried soon ([probably] at Buc, near Versailles).
………………………..
27 May, p.5.
Esnault-Pelterie’s machine has been taken
to Buc, for trials there.
……………………….
20 June
La
Vie au Grand Air, No. 509
pp.386-7.
François Peyrey, ‘Une nouvelle envolé’’
Flying at Toussus-le-Noble,
Esnault-Pelterie did 300, 500, then 1,500 metres, witnessed by H. Kapferer. He
reached a height of 30 metres. The last flight was on 8 June.
Having no control to retard ignition [the
standard means of slowing an engine?], Esnault-Pelterie had to use down
elevator to descend – into a field of lucerne. One wing was damaged, and he was
somewhat banged about, but not hurt. He will continue his trials, ‘because the
intentions of the Wrights, and the performances attributed to them, have
excited in the world of aviators [a desire to] emulate which is bound to
produce good results.’
Esnault-Pelterie might fit a 60 litre tank,
allowing for four hours of flight. The lateral stability of his monoplane was
satisfactory last year, but not the longitudinal stability. Esnault-Pelterie
thinks he has ‘definitely put his finger on the centre of pressure’ [thus
curing the problem?]. The aircraft has flexible surfaces.
The fuselage [‘corps’] is ‘fusiforme’
[long, thin, shell shaped], asymmetrical, with maximum cross-section towards
the front third. It is made with a solid frame of steel, aluminium, and wood,
and covered with varnished silk. Near the mid fuselage is the ‘coke-pitt’ [sic].
In the nose is mounted an Esnault-Pelterie designed fan-shaped engine, of 35
hp. The engine has two rows of cylinders, three in front and four behind. Its
weight is 47.5 kilos.
The propeller is four bladed, of metal, and
mounted directly to the engine. Amidships is a single, tyred wheel; there is
also a tyred tailwheel, and two tip wheels.
The wingspan is 9.6 metres, with 18 square
metres of surface, in shape an irregular trapezoid. The wings have slight
negative dihedral, though turn up at the tips.
The camber of the wing was established by
Esnault-Pelterie through testing of different surfaces in his car, at up to 100
kph. This led to his using a wing with a special curve [‘galbe’]; though at
rest the wings do not have a single section [the aerofoil changes along the
wing?].
The wings have warping on their outer
halves, controllable by a lever. This works through a series of flanges
[‘brides’], flat metallic springs, ‘which make consistent [‘solidaires’] the
varying deformations of the two wings, and at the same time limit them’. The
rigid and bending parts of the wing are assembled with wooden hinges, with
metal gussets. The covering is of varnished silk.
The tail is flexible and of a very special
shape [actually, a long triangle], and can be moved in all directions, thus
serving as horizontal and vertical rudder. [Photographs show a vertical fin and
a longer vertical surface under the horizontal tail. One photograph seems to
show a separate elevator at the rear of the horizontal tail.]
The base weight of the motor is 47.5 kilos.
Its working weight is 52 kilos. With coil and propeller it weighs 60 kilos.
Total aircraft weight is 350 kilos
(including the 75 kilos pilot). A hydro-pneumatic brake allows easy stopping
after landing.
……………………….
25 December, p.2.
Esnault-Pelterie’s monoplane is displayed
at the exhibition at the Grand Palais in late December.
………………………..
1909
8 January, p.6.
The AéroClub de France voted yesterday to
give a pilot’s ‘brevet’ to Esnault-Pelterie (along with Henry Farman,
Delagrange, Blériot, the Wright brothers, Captain Ferber, and Santos-Dumont).
…………………………
15 January.
L’Aérophile
p. 34 Description
of the Esnault-Pelterie No. 2bis aircraft.
It is a monoplane, has a four bladed propeller, and wing tip wheels.
Controls: one stick, moved laterally,
produces wing warping via two cables on each wing attached to steel strips
[‘lames’]. The same stick, moved longitudinally, moves the elevator (in the
tail).
A different lever, in front of the pilot,
moved from side to side, controls the rudder. A pedal (right side) controls the
engine speed by the admission [of fuel, presumably]. A left pedal allows
starting of the motor from the pilot’s seat [no explanation of this].
[There is still no sense or explanation of
steering, except by the rudder.]
…………………………
1 February, p.5.
Esnault-Pelterie is one of four delegates
of the AéroClub de France to go to Reims to choose the site for the August 1909
flying competition.
………………………..
………………………..
Robert Esnault-Pelterie is not a prominent
member of the group flying after 1907 (though in fact he had started experimenting
with gliders in 1903-4). He is not mentioned often in Le Matin. But he was a notable builder of aircraft, and was active
in the AéroClub de France’s promotion of aviation. He designed radial engines,
and was possibly the first to use them on aircraft. (His seven cylinder engine
had two rows of cylinders, with three in front and four behind. They did not
form a circle, but an arc at the top of the motor.) At the beginning of 1909 he
was one of first six Frenchmen to receive a pilot’s ‘brevet’ from the AéroClub
de France. After 1908 he does not seem to have flown as a pilot. But his
aircraft from 1910 onwards were most successfully flown by others.
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