14 February 2017
Voisin brothers
Revue de l’Aviation 2:3 15 February 1907
p. 15 The Voisin brothers at Neuilly are building for Blériot a monoplane, of 250 kilograms weight, 15 square metres [wing] area, a 24 hp Antoinette motor, and a 1.5 diameter propeller. They are also making, for Kapferer, a cellular [biplane] aircraft with wheels, weighing 280 kilograms, of 35 square metres [wing] area, a Buchet 25 hp motor, and a 1.75 metre diameter propeller. For Delagrange they are making a cellular [biplane] aircraft of 290 kilograms, of 60 square meters [wing] area, with a 50 hp Antoinette motor, and a 2.3 metre propeller. All three are to be finished in one month.
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Billancourt, 8 July 1907. Letter of Voisin brothers to the Mayor of Boulogne. (Archives Municipales of the Ville de Boulogne-Billancourt. ‘Ville de Boulogne (Seine), Bureau d’Hygiène, Casier Sanitaire de 6bis Rue de la Ferme appartenant à M. Barais, y demeurant frères Voisin, 1907-1971)
The Voisin brothers ask permission to build a light hangar [‘hangar léger’] covered in roofing felt [‘carton bitumé’] on the site of which they are tenants, at 4 Rue de la Ferme. The purpose of this hangar is the assembly of flying machines. The site is not immediately adjacent [‘mitoyen’] to other buildings on any side.
[A blueprint plan of the hangar accompanies the letter. It is signed by Colliex. The title is: Ateliers d’Aviation Ed. Surcouf, Les Frères Voisins Successeurs, Plan des Ateliers, Échelle 0m01 par mètre]
The plan shows, at the rear, one atelier 15 m deep and 14.3 m wide. In front of that, towards the street, is an ‘hangar à bois’ 3.3 m wide by 6.15 m deep, and ‘bureaux’ 5.2 m wide by 6.15 m deep, with an opening (unclear if unroofed) between them. Next to the hangar is a water tank.
The hangar to be built is between the latter hangar and the street, with 3 m setback from street, and 14.3 m wide by 16 m deep. The total depth from the street to the back of the existing atelier is 40.6 m.
[The plan is well drawn, in what seems like standard architectural style. If drawn by Colliex, as perhaps it was, because it is marked ‘Pour G. Voisin’, it is clear that he had some training in drafting.]
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P'egase No 44, February 1987, pp. 15-25, 'Avec les chercheurs d'ailes. Trouvailles et retrouvailles. Les fr`eres Voisin.'
p. 15 [rather flowery language, full of rhetorical questions]
p. 16 nothing significant
p. 20. [pp. 17-19 missing – but the sense of the text continues – perhaps the pages just had ads. or something else with no content relevant to the article]. Two pictures: one of three balloons and what looks like a Santos-Dumont late aircraft [Demoiselle?] in the distance, flying over a winter landscape – painted by Jean-Pierre Alaux, perhaps in 1986; and another of an early biplane, with single 4-bladed propeller, [apparently on the cover of] Gabriel Voisin, ' Mes 10000 cerfs-volants'.
p. 21. The top of the page shows a rough sketch of a number of people apparently in a workshop or factory. These people have been identified by G Voison as identified with him and Chs Voisin [c. 1910?]. The people are not recognizable. Interesting, however, is that No. 2 is identified as Marthe Many, 'l'amie de Gabriel, un grand amour', and No. 9 as Elyse Deroche, also known as the Baronne de Laroche, mistress of Charles Voisin.
[There follow instructions for finding the old Voisin sites on the Rue de la Ferme, the quai du Point du Jour, etc. The names have changed since the early 20th c. ]
In June 1905 Louis Bl'eriot and Gabriel Voisin rent the old establishment of Surcouf at 4, Rue de la Ferme. A sign BLERIOT VOISIN is painted on the entrance gate.
p. 23. [p. 22 has only two illustrations – a map of Boulogne and Issy, and the standard photograph of the newly-built shed at 4 rue de la Ferme, with the sign 'Appareils d'Aviation Les Fr`eres Voisin.' ]
In November 1906, because of incompatibilities of drawing board ('planches `a dessin') Gabriel Voisin separates from Bl'eriot, and brings his brother Charles to Paris. The gate is repainted, to show Les Fr`eres Voisin. But space is lacking. In 1907 a hangar of 270 sq mts area, and 8 mts height, is built. That is still not enough. Hence the move to 34, quai du Point du Jour, on 11 May 1908, a former sawmill, which Gabriel calls 'la phalanst`ere' [the phalanstery – a building or utopian sort in which work c. 100 people]. All Paris visits. But in the winter of 1909-10 there are bad floods, and the building suffers. The owner asks Voisin to leave. Voisin would like to move to a site closer to the Issy field. (Charles Voisin leaves.) On the boulevard Gambette, at Issy, Voisin rents half of a large piece of land next to the field, with a promise to buy it in the future. It was decided to build a factory.
[This page also has a v small copy of G voisin's letter to the mayor of Boulogne- Billancourt asking for perission to build the hangar on the rue de la Ferme, dated 8 July 1907; and a photo of the quai du Point du Jour and the Voisin aircraft factory on it.]
p. 24. Two photos: one of the new worshops at the quai du Point du Jour [though what it mostly shows is a large, three-storey house – perhaps the workshop is on the right]; and another of the interior of the workshop, with two or three fuselages of the new multi-winged machine being assembled, and beyond them two almost complete examples of the original biplane.]
p. 25. In 1912 Voisin is able to buy the second half of the terrain. This is the new Voisin factory, on the rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau (now the rue Guynemer).
[the bottom half of the page has a photo of a line of c. 20 men, some with bicycles, in front of the factory at Issy-les-Moulineaux. They are presumbaly workers in the factory. ]
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Icare Spring/Summer 1975 (No. 72)
pp. 20-45 ‘Gabriel Voisin, tel que l’a connu Charles Dollfus’ [Gabriel Voisin, as Charles Dollfus knew him]
[The article, by Charles Dollfus, comes with many splendid photographs, not reproduced here]
p. 21 Gabriel Voisin was the ‘first industrialist of aviation’. He died at a very advanced age in 1973. He foresaw that Dollfus would write an obituary. Dollfus often visited him at his home on the River Sâone, and received much information about his life. Voisin told him that statues and commemorative plaques were of no significance. For the ‘precursors’, what counted was that the Musée de l’Air [of which Dollfus was the director] has collected and conserves their aircraft.
Gabriel Voisin was very thin, with elegant movements and good proportions. His look and his voice seized attention. His vitality was prodigious. His conversation was original and curious. He used very crude expressions, mixed in with a great refinement and depth of thought. His knowledge was wide.
He was an artist in his soul, a poet and lover of nature, spring, and flowers. He was deeply attached to the River Saône and its islands. He always had a liking for the colour blue, always going out wearing a blue shirt. He was very nervous, and for a long time had a tic that wrinkled part of his face; though that disappeared with age.
He and his brother (Charles) were not tempted to true experiments with their kite and glider of 1897. He later wrote in Mes dix mille cerfs-volants that his accident on the Seine in 1905 had left him with a
p. 22 morbid fear of ‘trials’ – a fear that never left him in aeroplanes, cars, and even in trains. [Voisin almost drowned while piloting a glider in a trial over the Seine in 1905.] But, nonetheless, in the spring of 1908 he did, at Henry Farman’s side, make some jumps [‘bonds’] of 7-8 metres in aircraft [presumably the Voisin-Farman 1bis]. In 1911 he flew with Colliex and in 1916 he briefly flew with Frantz as his pilot in his second four-engined machine.
It is entertaining to think that the great aviation pioneer spent only a few minutes in aeroplanes, though he was two hours and fifty-seven minutes in a free balloon on 9 May 1909, with Archdeacon, between Rueil and la Beauce. Later he crossed the Atlantic in a passenger plane to visit in America his daughter and her family. Finally, on 13 January 1958, to commemorate the first kilometer [Farman’s flight] he flew that track in a helicopter.
He greatly enjoyed, at his house La Cadolle, at Tournus, the great steam locomotives passing close by; also the large modern barges passing on the Saône.
His thinking could be quite odd. Colliex related that Voisin had once been asked a small question about locks. He then, leaning over his drafting table, came up with a completely new set of ideas about locks, in rather dazzling fashion. Voisin also continued to be attracted by dirigibles, though he never had the time to work on them. In 1966 he wrote to Dollfus adversely comparing the construction of Boeing aircraft to that of the Graf Zeppelin. In 1968 he thought that dirigibles could be built that would reach 250 kph, enabling an Atlantic crossing in thirty hours. He liked steam engines, and thought they would come back into use, with improvements. Until 1973, at a great age, he was full of curious and striking ideas. He continued to collect documentation on extreme scientific ideas.
p. 23 From 1955 to 1957 he shared the space where he had installed his office with M. Jean Bertin, who was working then on air cushion vehicles. This space was at Auteuil, in the rue des Pâtures. Voisin gave the Bertin Society some very valuable advice about boats, and particularly on aerotrains, on which he had very particular opinions.
At an age of over 86 he developed an interest in research on paleontology. At the same time he became very interested in American experiments about producing milk without cows (grass being turned into milk without passing through the cow – which he thought could be done by physics and chemistry).
Voisin once wrote that he had inherited a gift for static and dynamic mechanics. He could understand and calculate without reflection complex movements and differing speeds. From 18 to 60 he had a rapid understanding of mechanical structures. His memory for such things was instantaneous and photographic. At over eighty he designed the architecture of the d’Ozenay mill – staircase and plumbing included. He maintained the habit of replying to the very many letters that he received – some written merely to get his autograph. He kept his large and fine handwriting.
He remained closely attached to his wife, Marie, for whom he had a great love.
His book [Mes dix mille cerfs-volants…] tells of his rather Bohemian youth in Paris. He had many artist friends. When he factory was set up in the Rue de la Ferme at Billancourt [in 1906], Gabriel, to save time and effort, moved to a lodging next to it.
p. 26 Later he lived in the Rue de Meudon in Billancourt (after having lived at the workshops on the Quai Point du Jour). In 1914, in Paris on the boulevard Lannes, he acquired a strange round house. He could rearrange the house internally, as he constantly did, with moveable partitions. The arrangements changed out of recognition from one week to the next. Voisin was an excellent cook. He worked scientifically with thermometer and watch. He often entertained the literary elite of Paris, especially Anatole France.
In early 1909 Voisin married Lola Bernet, and became the father of a daughter, Janine. He divorced twenty years later, and remarried when he left Paris. Outside marriage he had a well loved son, who died in World War 2 at the age of 25.
His lengthy old age had its challenges. His sister Carmen died, his daughter underwent serious operations, his wife and sister-in-law suffered accidents. He himself underwent serious medical treatments for cataracts and fracture of the femur, and had transfusions.
He had deep and long friendships in aviation, with Archdeacon, Ferber, and particularly Blériot. Santos-Dumont, Henri Fabre, Louis Bréguet, Henri Kapferer, and Audemars were also very close friends of his. In 1905 he benefited from the practical advice of Surcouf, the builder of balloons and airships, and of his engineer Cormont.
Joseph Frantz, a long-term collaborator of his, visited him until his last days.
But a strange trait of his character was that he would sometimes, without explanation, break off friendships.
In 1909 Voisin proudly accepted, with Blériot, the Osiris prize of the Académie des Sciences (which also gave him its gold medal). This was welcome revenge on those in the press who treated the Voisin brothers as carpenters, or even workmen (as they were called once by Paul Painlevé). In 1909 he also received the Légion d’Honneur, becoming its youngest member at the time. In 1959 he became of ‘grand officier’ of the Légion d’Honneur.
From the beginning of his industrial successes he endowed the model competition of the Aéronautique-Club de France, instituting the practice of giving as first prize the building of the winning machine (except for the motor). The prize was won by Louis Paulhan, who received donations to enable him to buy the first Gnôme engine applied to aviation. Shortly after that the Voisin brothers gave the Aéronautique-Club – a democratic society that pleased Voisin – a Chanute glider, previously intended for Henry Farman. This glider served for a long time at the Champlan-Palaiseau flight school, the first flying school in the world.
28 In his workshops Voisin always applied ‘advanced’ socialist principles, which brought him hostility from his competitors. In WW1 he officially renounced any salary from the manufacturers building Voisin aircraft.
Voisin’s Mes dix-mill cerfs volants gives a vivid, sometimes shocking, picture of his origins and life. Written fast, the book has errors of dating for some essential facts, and a muddled chronology. But warmth and intense life fill its pages.
Voisin finished his book with a section rejecting the priorities in flight of the Wright brothers. He rejects incontrovertible evidence and relies on incorrect witnesses. He liked polemic and paradox. Voisin wrote that he had often been distracted by fascinating but useless research, looking for new solutions. He could have perfected the machine that won the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize, but did not. When Farman in 1909 produced a machine that was an intelligent adaptation of the Voisin aircraft, he took away the Voisins’ customers and caused them difficulty. The Voisins spent too much. But despite everything their firm grew. In his maturity Voisin remained a ‘grand seigneur’. He liked to dine at Maxim’s. He did not count his money much.
Charles Voisin had started the custom of putting the buyer’s name on aircraft, with the Voisins’ name being only discreetly indicated. This was a good commercial idea, but it often meant that the Voisin name was forgotten.
29 Gabriel Voisin had an inherent ability for things mechanical. He spent free time as a child making the most varied machines. Inheritance played a large part in this. He was the son of an industrial foundry worker at Belleville-sur-Saône and at Bourg, Georges-Émile Voisin – who was himself the son of an iron and bronze smelter who created the framework of the Halles in Paris. Voisin’s mother’s grandfather was also a smelter and a man specialized in gas factories. The grandfathers and father of the Voisin brothers were products of schools of Arts and Manufacture; not the great central schools, but places whose pupils created factories and enterprises, and with them prosperity.
At the gas plant in Belleville, Gabriel and Charles’s grandfather made them a workshop in which they learned turning, drilling, soldering, fitting, and woodwork. They made there a steam engine, a gun, a sailing boat, and a hobby horse. Aboard the boat they made, Voisin received advice from M. Wibert, who told him about the essential properties of aerodynamics. While still very young the brothers made a soldered tinplate steamboat, carrying three people.
After studying at the Ampère lycée in Lyon, Gabriel moved to the Arts School there, and also an office for the study of mechanics. He then completed his education with an architecture course at the School of Fine Arts in Paris. His education in aviation started with very elaborate kites, and in particular with a cellular kite inspired by pictures of Hargrave’s kites in New Zealand. This was in 1897. A large Hargrave device lifted each of the Voisin boys off the ground. In 1898 the brothers made an elementary glider, with poor results. Testing at the Couzon quarry – 60-80 metres high – ended with these two thoughts: ‘Fright cut off my legs’, and ‘Charles saw around him the abyss that awaited us’.
During his studies in Lyon, Gabriel had an early contact with the aeronautical world in the form of visits to his dentist, Pompeien Piraud. He was a long enthusiast of ornithopters, and had made steam models.
But the real source of the Voisins’ interest in flight was Colonel Renard, a genius of aeronautical science. Towards the end of 1903 Voisin received instruction from Renard, and was able to see the Archdeacon glider under construction at Chalais-Meudon. Voisin became the engineer of a consortium created by Archdeacon, a man whose energy and breadth of interests had a great influence on him.
30 Voisin also had valuable contacts with Captain Ferber, especially at Berck, where the Archdeacon glider, imitating Wright aircraft, was tried. He became a disciple and friend of Ferber’s.
Voisin also knew Victor Tatin, the old precursor; he had two unhelpful conversations with Ader; he received a visit in 1909 from Kress, who came from Vienna to embrace the man ‘who had realized his lifetime dream’; and he had long interviews with Chanute.
Despite all his formal education, it can be said that Voisin was, as an engineer, self-taught.
Charles Voisin was closely connected to his brother Gabriel. He was a little younger, but was a faithful and active companions in their youth. The two brothers were quite different in character and physique, but worked together closely and shared experiences.
Charles lacked the creative genius of his brother. On the other hand, he was better at finances and an excellent collaborator for Gabriel. His death, in 1912, left an enormous hole in Gabriel’s life. Indeed, the hole appeared in 1910, when Charles fell madly in love with the baronne de Laroche, whom he had
31 established as the first woman aeroplane pilot in the world. He left Gabriel, and never saw him again. He worked as an administrator of flying tournaments in the USA and Latin America. In 1912 he died in a car crash near Belleville-sur-Saône, the place where the Voisin brothers had spent their childhood.
Like Gabriel, Charles had no liking for flying himself. He did test Delagrange’s plane at Bagatelle in 1907, flying 80 metres on 30 March. After then he flew very little and briefly.
Gabriel Voisin arrived in industrial life in these conditions: he had had several professional preparations; had done manual work; knew tools and their use; had had various workshop experiences; knew metal and vegetable materials; was in all of this guided by extensive general knowledge and a superior intelligence.
Gabriel Voisin and Aviation
Voisin was ‘doyen de l’aviation mondiale’. He flew for the first time (apart from his first efforts in 1897-8) at Berck, on Archdeacon’s Wright-type glider. They were short and erratic flights, but systematically carried out.
His first whole aircraft design dates from spring 1905. The design has the features that were to be typical of Voisin aircraft: a biplane wing with forward elevator and a stabilizing tail with steering rudder. In fact this general layout had been established in 1904 by Captain Ferber with a biplane glider. But Voisin, under Archdeacon, provided the definitive version of it, with a biplane wing like that created in 1896 by Chanute and later developed by the Wright brothers after 1900. This wing had two equal planes, linked by six pairs of vertical struts, reinforced with metal wires. This design derived directly from the documentation published in L’Aérophile of August 1903, provided by Chanute.
This Voisin layout was followed by imitators. The aircraft was said to be ‘square’ [‘carré], because span and length were almost equal.
The towed, floatplane glider of 1906 had no engine. The first ‘ground’ Voisin aircraft was made for Henry Kapferer at the end of 1906. It had the characteristics already described, and a strong undercarriage structure – which can also be seen on Voisin aircraft that followed. Kapferer’s machine did not fly because of lack of a suitable motor. The Antoinette engine, made by Levavasseur, was fitted to the next machines, made for Delagrange and Farman.
Voisin was the first industrialist of aviation. At the end of 1905 he entered an association with Blériot, and bought from Surcouf a small shop for aviation work. In 1906 he and Blériot separated. Voisin stayed at Billancourt, in the Rue de la Ferme, and there set up a workshop with his brother Charles at the end of 1906. The brothers worked with their friend from Lyon, Colliex, an engineer who became the firm’s pilot, and a working companion. It is noteworthy that Voisin never hired a mechanic; he had no need.
32 The Voisin aircraft generally possessed the quality pursued in Europe of inherent stability. They were controlled by a single wheel whose rotation operated the rudder and whose back and forth motion worked the forward elevator. There was no control of roll. Wilbur Wright revealed wing warping to the Europeans in 1908. Builders such as Blériot and Farman then equipped their machines with ailerons or warping, which their customers came to want. The Voisin brothers then had some difficulty, since their machines became comparatively antiquated, despite their early success.
Metallic technique saved the Voisins’ business in 1910-11. This was the use of steel tube for the structure of biplanes – which now had their empennage and rudders in the rear, ailerons on the wings, a fuselage carrying the pusher motor aft, and, forward, a clear field of view and fire. The landing gear had four wheels and brakes, and was suitable for all terrains.
The great period of Gabriel Voisin’s life to which he often came back even in old age, was the preparation for the ‘kilomètre bouclé’ [the kilometer flight with a 180 degree turn] in 1906-08.
35 Henry Farman’s plane, initially identical with that of Delagrange, had a ‘cell’ of 10 metre span, two wing surfaces of 2 metre chord, 1.5 metres apart, and divided by vertical partitions imitated from Hargrave. [There were none of these partitions on the aircraft that made the kilometer flight on 13 January 1908. They were added later.] This arrangement seemed at the time essential to channel the airflow providing lift and to improve stability. To the fuselage [right behind the pilot] were fitted the motor and propeller. In the nose was a biplane elevator.[No – the elevator had been reduced to a monoplane in the autumn of 1907.] Four beams aft of the wings carried the biplane tail.
The aircraft was modified according to Farman’s directions. The tail was reduced from 6 metres span to 2.10 metres. Its lifting capacity was changed [by converting the lower plane, previously flat, to a lifting section]. These changes made turns far easier.
37 The undercarriage structure was never modified. Its strength allowed Farman to avoid interruptions in his flying trials.
On 13 January 1908, the day of the successful 1 kilometre flight, the radiator was removed. Only the water in the engine’s jackets remained; but it was enough for the brief flight. [The same flight had been accomplished before, but without official witnesses. Presumably the radiator had then been in place. Farman perhaps now removed it to provide an extra lightening of the machine. It is also possible that no radiator was used before some date later in 1908.]
The propeller, made by the Voisins, had two aluminium blades fitted to steel arms and hub.
The Voisin brothers, though absorbed with building more examples of their machine for buyers, nonetheless in 1907-08 produced various inventions, especially for foreign clients. The Auffm-Ordt monoplane, the Dutch biplane for Reissner, the Florencie ornithopter, and, for Farman, a very interesting monoplane with three wings in tandem (which was never finished); and different versions of a triplane for Goupy, which was successfully taken up by Blériot.
38 Among the Voisins’ first customers were Prince Bibesco of Romania, Louis Paulhan, Fourner, the Chilean Sanchez-Besa, whose aircraft were piloted at Hamburg by Péquet, and above all Moore-Brabazon, the first licensed British pilot. A dispute broke out between the Voisins and Farman about an aircraft ordered by him and delivered to Moore-Brabazon.
Voisin aircraft brought flying to various places around the world: Metrot in Algeria, Bregi in Argentina, Rougier in Monaco and Egypt, de Caters in Belgium, Swenson in Denmark and Sweden. At Juvisy, in France, developed the school of the Ligue Nationale Aérienne; and there was a Voisin school at Mourmelon, from which Bunau-Varilla and Gobron came.
What came to exist in 1907-08, the Voisins’ time, was aircraft that were rationally designed, judiciously proportioned, built of perfectly appropriate materials, provided with a good propulsive unit, and relatively easy to pilot in safe conditions. These aircraft allowed a large number of amateurs to practice aviation at low risk.
40 After 1912, and during WW1, Voisin aircraft in military use were rather heavy, rather slow, but possessing fine flying characteristics – and capable of using unprepared fields, while standing in the open air under all weather.
An innovation of Voisin’s became universal: aluminium brackets [‘godets’] for connecting longerons and vertical members. This invention was not patented.
World War 1
In the autumn of 1913, Voisin, encouraged by military commanders, adapted his biplane to carry a 37 mm. cannon. Then came armour against gunfire, in the spring of 1914. Voisin aircraft were also fitted with machine guns. The first victory in aerial combat came on 5 October 1914. On 2 February 1916 took place the first bombing from a compact formation of aircraft (Squadron VB 101, under Captain Laurens). In 1918 came the first bomber group, with squadrons 114, 110 and 25.
43 Gabriel Voisin, although behind the production of many military aircraft in WW1, grew deeply opposed to the military use of aircraft. He recalled and regretted the deaths caused by aerial combat in the war for many decades.
After WW1 Voisin turned to the production of cars. He became a highly innovative car maker. He was always especially interested in producing a small, very cheap car – especially for sale in underdeveloped countries. He set up a factory in Spain to produce such vehicles.
Old age
After the definitive closure of his industry [date?], Voisin set up an office in Auteuil, in the Rue des Pâtures, where he undertook extensive research. He left Paris to live in Tournus, on the banks of the Saône in La Cadolle. He lived contentedly there, receiving friends. The Saône was his preferred river of all. Then he bought a 14th century water mill at Ozenay, a small village in the country, some ten kilometres away. Only the walls remained, but he created there a delightful dwelling. He moved there in 1967, at the age of 87, and there lived out his final years, attended to by his wife and his sister-in-law. He died very quietly at the moulin d’Ozenay on 25 December 1973, in his 94th year.
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Pionniers. Revue Aéronautique Trimestrielle des Vieilles Tiges, No. 40, 15 April 1974
pp. 6-7 Joseph Frantz, ‘Adieu Gabriel’
[Taken from this, and from the remainder of this issue of Pionniers, is only material that is not given elsewhere in these notes]
For Voisin it seemed that the word ‘impossible’ did not exist in French. He had innate abilities for technical matters, and took pleasure in agreeable arts. He used spare time for painting, and he was an excellent pianist. He was sometimes described as a French Leonardo da Vinci.
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pp. 8-22. ‘La vie ardente de Gabriel Voisin, créateur de l’industrie aéronautique’
[emphasis is given in these notes to information on Voisin in 1907-08]
18 The first significant order placed with the Voisin brothers was Delagrange’s, in December 1906. He left design matters to them. The aircraft was finished by 20 February 1907, but the first flight attempts resulted in broken fuselage members [aft of the wing]. After strengthening, Charles Voisin flew the machine 50 metres on 30 March 1907, at Bagatelle. Delagrange then accepted the aircraft, and completed payment; but he did not fly it until 31 October 1907, at Issy-les-Moulineaux. Before then, on 1 June 1907, Henry Farman had placed an order for an aircraft. Farman’s machine was finished in August 1907, and taken to a hangar built outside the perimeter wall at Issy. Farman had in mind from the start the pursuit of the Deutsch de la Meurthe/Archdeacon prize of 50,000 francs for a one kilometer out and return flight. Farman taxied the aircraft for the first time on 30 August, but did not make his first flight, of 30 metres, until 37 days later (7 October 1907). At that point Farman discovered the tail-up, nose down, take off technique, and began to fly longer distances. Thus Farman won the Deutsch/Archdeacon prize on 13 January 1908.
19 Farman’s success drew other buyers to the Voisins’ factory: Henri Rougier, a racing driver; the young Louis Paulhan – who, after winning a model aircraft prize, received a Voisin aircraft equipped with a motor by a group of friends; the Englishman J.T.C. Moore-Brabazon, who became the first licenced pilot in England. In the following year – 1909 – others followed: Étienne Bunau-Varilla, who received from his rich family a Voisin aircraft as a reward for his success in the Baccalaureate examination; Jean Gobron, who had the good idea of adding ailerons to his machine; Captain Ferber, who offered his most recent machine, the No. 9, to his mechanic, Georges Legagneux; the Algerian Jean Métrot, who was the first to fly in North Africa; the first licenced aviatrix, the Baronne de Laroche. In August 1909 Gabriel Voisin was at Reims-Bétheny for the first great competition [where several of his aircraft flew]. The public’s great favourite would be Louis Paulhan, who equipped his Voisin aircraft with a new motor, the Gnôme rotary.
In October 1909 Voisin biplanes were produced at two per week, and monthly payments received reached 2,933 francs (in contrast to 874 francs per month at the beginning of that year). Voisin aircraft flew in many countries. In the summer of 1908, Henry Farman flew in New York. Léon Delagrange flew in Italy in 1909. Baron Alexis van der Schrouff flew a Voisin machine in Russia, as did Hansen in Sweden, de Caters in Constantinople, and Kimmerling in South Africa.
The Voisin canard [a tail-first, rear wing machine] first flew in early 1911, and was equipped with both wheels and floats, making it amphibian. One of these aircraft was delivered to the French navy; and ten or so to the Russian government.
20 Military orders began in 1910. And in the winter of 1909-10 disastrous floods disabled the offices and workshops at Billancourt. Gabriel Voisin then decided to implement his long-held plan of building a factory on the edge of the Issy-les-Moulineaux field. It was on the Boulevard Gambetta, now the Boulevard Frères Voisin.
La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:6, Paris, May 1907, pp. 11-12.
‘Comment on peut faire de l’Aviation, à peu de frais’, [part 1 – see part 2 below] by the Voisin brothers
[These are instructions for building a simple glider. The article has various illustrations – see below.
A key part of the construction is the (initially) H shaped piece of sheet metal that becomes a bracket joining three pieces of bamboo (second page). Fifty to sixty of these are needed. They are used to join the longerons of the fuselage to the vertical and cross pieces, and (apparently) the leading and trailing edges of the wing to the wing’s vertical and horizontal members. Four holes are made in these brackets to take a small bolt (see p. 2). These bolts also are the mounting points of bracing wires. The wires do not seem to have any tightening devices (e.g. turnbuckles) in them. The instructions simply say to cut them so that they are as tight as possible; if that is done, the resulting frame will be a beam that cannot be deformed, and that can carry 100-150 kgs.
The illustration of the wing frame on p. 12 does not seem to show any camber on the pieces acting as ribs. But the photograph at the bottom of p. 12 seems to show camber, at least on the lower wing.
The length of this glider is 5.25 mts; wingspan 6.5 mts; tailspan 2 mts.
A note at the end of the article advises readers wanting more information to get in touch with the Voisins at 4, rue de la Ferme, Billancourt.]
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:7, Paris, June 1907, p. 1-2
‘Caveamus!’, by Gabriel Voisin
On the growing danger of American aviators … The Wright brothers have been in Europe for several days. They have come to France to seek capital. Much ink has been spent on this. Public opinion has changed on it radically.
In perhaps six months, the Wrights will come to France to carry out public trials (which will be attended by a mass of astonished people), will set up a factory, and will put their hands to an industry that one day will change the face of the world. If the French have any pride left at all they must take the lead in a movement that arose in France. They cannot leave to others the consecration of the greatest discovery of the century.
The land of Montgolfier, Tissandier, Meusnier, Col. Renard, and Penaud cannot allow such spinelessness. The French created the automobile; light motors have come from France; the seed that will allow them to develop wings has already germinated. France is the land in which this idea should flower and blossom.
Prizes must be created, stimulating the progress of mechanical flight step by step. The French press is the most powerful of levers. If a daily paper would sacrifice four or five thousand francs for such a contest, it would be working in the finest cause of the century by creating among investigators the competition necessary for great enterprises.
M. Archdeacon has worked alone for five years, surrounded by scattered supporters. If some of France’s sportsmen followed his example, the battle would be soon won.
But the Voisins are certain that none of that will happen. The Wrights will build, with French capital, a machine similar to their own. They will come, and make a flight of a few kilometres before an admiring crowd, and which will celebrate American genius.
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:7, Paris, June 1907, pp. 4-5
‘Comment on peut faire de l’Aviation, à peu de frais’, by Les Frères Voisin
[This is the continuation of an article begun in the Revue of 15 May 1907 – see notes above. It gives instructions for building a simple glider, and is illustrated with photos of the Voisin brothers flying gliders on sand dunes {in 1903-04?}. The article gives basic dimensions, and instructions for assembling the different parts of the aircraft. Calico is recommended for covering; it is cheap. Paste glue is good for attaching the calico to the frames. The machine has a biplane wing and tail, with four bamboo longerons linking them. Instructions for flying follow. The machine is pulled into the air by ropes, held by helpers. Flight is down a slope. Steering is done by moving the legs to one side or the other. Height loss follows moving the legs forward. The only dangerous position is to lean backwards {presumably causing a stall}. Proceed gradually and prudently.]
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:7, Paris, June 1907, pp. 14-16
‘Le vol plané au Touquet-Paris-Plage.’ No author given.
p. 14 Gliding flights have taken place recently at Le Touquet-Paris-plage. There were done by the Voisin brothers, with their engineer Colliex, and MM. Delagrange and Farman – two sportsmen whose names are known in aviation circles. These two wished to make their debut in gliding flight – a sport that may not be new, but is little known and practiced up to now.
The dunes along this cost are admirable for trials of flying machines. They have variable slopes, from slight to steep. The dunes also form immense inlets [‘criques’], so that some may always be found to be suitably oriented [to the wind, presumably]. Wind is essential. On Pentecost day – the day planned for flying – there was no wind. Potential flyers, and public, were disappointed.
In the morning the aviators got up very early, assembled their glider, and then did exercises (even dangerous jumps on the sand). An old sailor predicted that the wind would rise in the afternoon; but it did not.
Early on Monday morning, at the Hotel de l’Atlantic, everyone met to take the machine to the dunes. Now there was enough wind. M. Colliex – an expert in this sport, having practiced it much – started, and made some fine flights. Fliers always want to take another flight; the sensation of flying is so agreeable.
p. 15 No sooner have they landed than fliers hurry to return up the slope.
One of the keenest fliers was Henry Farman. Farman has had the experience when driving of leaving the road in the Auvergne (in a Gordon-Bennett cup race) – with his car and mechanic in the bottom of a ravine. After that, gliding must seem a gentle activity.
The aircraft was a Chanute-type apparatus, built in the workshops of the Voisin brothers in Billancourt. It was little heavy and resistant to penetration. It was built in 24 hours, and is a true tour de force. Its span is 6.4 mts; the wing width, 1.5 mts; distance between wings, 1.2 mts. There is a cellular tail with two planes of 1.6 x 0.8 mts, 0.75 mts apart. Distance from main plane to tail: 2.33 mts. The main plane is covered with cambric, glued on by a special procedure. It has a slightly curved surface. The tail surfaces are flat, and are joined to the wood by a ‘lançage’ [?sewn on through holes in the wood?].
The pilot is carried on his arms by two pieces of wood linking the forward and aft spars of the lower wing. He can change the centre of gravity (with respect to the centre of pressure) by moving his legs backwards or forwards. These movements allow a very gentle landing, and also some steering of the machine.
The machine weighs 24 kilos; the pilot weighs on average, 70 kilos. Total weight is thus 94 kilos. Surface area is 18 sq mts. Flights move at 9.5 mts per second, with a slope of 12 degrees.
Gliding [‘vol plané’] is a very agreeable sport, without danger. It is good exercise for the arms, legs, and all muscles generally. The glider can also be used as a kite, when pulled by men, a horse, or a car. This was tried in the afternoon of the flight day, first with two men, then with a horse. The men were the best means of traction (the horse did not cooperate).
The wind dropped at around 4 pm. The fliers were exhausted, stored the aircraft, and went to the terrace of the hotel de l’Hermitage. MM Seguin and Souquaré, the directors of the ‘delightful beach’, invited the fliers to dine at l’Hermitage. Wines of the best vintage were drunk, and toasts made to the future of flight, and then to the hosts.
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:9, Paris, August 1907, p. 5
‘Sur la valeur de “K” en matière d’aviation’, by Les frères Voisin
[K is a coefficient in the equation V = square root of (P divided by K x S) – where V is velocity, P is weight, and S is wing surface area {these at least seem to be the meanings of the letters}. The article debates the value of this coefficient. For the Delagrange aeroplane it is 0.06; for Blériot’s current airplane, 0.075. It refers to the basic work of Canovetti on the subject. It also refers to work done by the Voisins to find the placement of the centre of pressure on a wing. The conclusion from that is that the centre of pressure varies according to the form, surface and curve of the plane. For stability in a aeroplane the centres of pressure and gravity must coincide exactly. Experimentation is needed. The article ends with the statements ‘designing a flying machine is nothing; building it is easy; trying it is everything’. Thus the Voisins – presumably mainly Gabriel – end by emphasizing practical experiment. But their writing of this column shows their concern with aerodynamics.]
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:10, Paris, September 1907, pp. 3-4
‘On drag from streamlined bodies’ [‘Sur la résistance à la pénétration des corps fuselés’], by the Farman brothers
There is little information on forms with least drag. Only Col. Renard did truly serious experiments on this, in his laboratory at Chalais. Unfortunately these documents have not been completely published. Major Renard has collected his brother’s notes, but they have not been made available to the great public. The Ministry of War may have some intentions on this subject; but generally data are uncertain still.
When, twenty years ago, the France was studied, streamlined forms were tested in a tunnel. These experiments, unique in the world, have been published, and have revealed shapes quite different from what would be imagined.
It is now recognized that a streamlined shape should present its wider end to an air current. [A rough illustration here shows a symmetrical airfoil shape, widest at about 1/5 chord from the leading edge, and with chord about 5.5 times as long as the width.] The proportions of length, and the position of maximum width, were to some extent revealed by those trials. It is likely that these proportions will vary according to speed, within very wide limits. Modern ballistics shows that an object that is shell shaped at both ends has reduced range. Recent trials with the Lebel gun have shown that the shape of the projectile can increase range to an unsuspected extent. [The Lebel gun was a bolt action rifle used by the French from the 1880s, and during WW1.]
But most research remains to be done. Time and money are hard to find. Streamlining that is immediately available must therefore be studied. Fish are a good example. Surprisingly a fish that is narrow in the tail is the fastest.
p. 4 Fish do not generate much power. Therefore their ability to travel at speed indicates that shape, and skin composition, are influential on speed. Deep-sea fish have been found that are very long and thin. Drag may be thought of as the result of the inertia of molecules; there are analogies between high speed in the air and low speed in water [both require overcoming the inertia of the fluid in question].
These matters of form and drag are of great concern to aviators. Work is done now with the intuition that comes from various trials; but the phenomena of the air are such that it seems impossible to foresee them all. Perhaps some day a researcher will appear who gives the needed answers.
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La Revue de l’Aviation, 2:13, December 1907, pp. 19-22.
‘L’utilization d’une Surface d’Aéroplane augmente avec l’envergure’, by the Voisin brothers.
[This is an article referring to experiments made in 1889, in Pennsylvania, by S. P. Langley. The experiments tested, on a whirling arm, different wing sections. The purpose was to see which gave more lift: a long and narrow wingform (with its long edge to the wind), and square form, or a narrow form that is deep front to back. The first proved much the best. On p. 22 the Voisin brothers conclude that an airplane with square wings will not work; and that the same is true of propellers – the best design, for thrust, is long and thin. They conclude that Langley made many experiments of great interest to aviators, though few know of them.]
[The article has very good photographs of the new ‘Flying Fish’ machine being built by the Voisins for Farman. The airframe looks complete. I do not know if trials were ever made of this machine.]
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L’Aérophile, 1 February 1908, p. ? ‘Portraits d’Aviateurs Contemporains. Les Frères Voisin’, by Albert de Masfrand.
[Starts by noting the commonness of brothers in historical accomplishments – the Montgolfiers, the Renards, the Tissandiers]. The Voisin brothers belong to that tradition.
Gabriel, after finishing his studies at the Lycée Ampère, entered the architecture section of the School of Fine Arts; his younger brother, Charles, left the lycée of Bourg to go into the army. The brothers made very large kites and rudimentary aeroplanes.
In Paris, Gabriel was introduced to Colonel Renard, and to Ernest Archdeacon, who had set up the first aviation syndicate. From 1902 to 1904 Gabriel built, almost single-handedly, the syndicate’s machines. Then he became a pilot, trying out, at Berck, and in Ferber’s company, gliders on the Wright pattern. Then, on the Seine, he piloted the aircraft of Archdeacon and Blériot. On one occasion he was trapped under water for a minute and a half after the aircraft crashed. In 1904 Gabriel joined Blériot to build and try out aircraft. In 1905 Charles Voisin, having finished his military service, joined them. Then the two brothers formed their airplane building company. It now employs 19 workers. They have built aircraft for Delagrange and Farman; and made the nacelle, propeller and rudders of the new military balloon, Ville de Paris.
Gabriel Voisin was born at Belleville-sur-Saône on 5 February 1880; Charles Voisin at Lyon, on 12 July 1882.
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1 May 1908, L’Aérophile, pp. 176-177. Charles and Gabriel Voisin, ‘Tout le monde aviateur’
[This begins with reference to Farman’s 1 kilometre prize-winning flight on 13 January 1908]
Farman made his first complete turn on 7 November 1907. Only bad luck prevented him from taking the Deutsch-Archdeacon prize before 13 January 1908.
Delagrange, in spring 1908, reached Farman’s standard in five days, and took the Archdeacon cup from him with a flight of almost 10 kilometres. The conclusion is that any sportsman can, after a few minutes learning, achieve a considerable flight in a Farman machine, and after two hours make a closed circuit flight, returning to his departure point.
There is much talk of the danger of flying. But Voisin machines can skim the ground or maintain a constant height. Delagrange recently flew two circuits too close to the ground. But, realizing that, he climbed to three metres, and made five more circuits of the triangular course. The only way an accident can occur is those circumstances is through an excessively brusque return to the ground.
Aviators currently work in very difficult conditions. They are forced to turn at 60 kph around a triangular course of 800 metres length. As soon as they come out of one acute angled turn, they must prepare for the next. And why should an aircraft have to make fifteen turns to cover 3.925 metres?
The Voisins conclude that it is time to leave Issy-les-Moulineaux. It would be better if flyers moved to the plains of Beauce.
There should be more aviators. Many aircraft are now being tested. But they need to be tested without the danger of accidents [too great at Issy?]. Workshops have recently been created to produce aircraft. Aviation will advance fast once these workshops are in production. Car makers have demonstrated their products making journeys of tens of kilometres to show customers that they worked. If aircraft builders did the same, they would have a crowd of customers. Delagrange, with the help of a syndicate, has ordered from the Voisins a series of ‘cellulaires’ [biplanes] which he proposes to place at the disposition of amateurs.
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‘Un comparative entre l’appareil Wright et l’appareil Voisin … ‘ Paru dans la presse en 1909
MAELB, dossier Voisin Frères No. 7, file Voisin Frères “Presse”, pp. 16-20.
[Article starts with a statement that it is very difficult to decide which is the better aircraft. The article will make comparisons suggesting two types of aircraft. Figures come from the Revue Industrielle.]
[What follows here is not a summary. Only new or revelatory material is noted here from this article.]
pp. 16-17 Wing area: Wright aircraft, 46 square metres, Voisin aircraft, c. 50 square metres; weight -Wright 500 kg in flying condition, vs 700 kg for Voisin. Speed: Wright, 66 kph, Voisin 72 kph.
Total area of vertical surfaces on the Voisjn machine is c. 28 square metres; their function is to assure directional and lateral stability.
The Voisin aircraft is 40% heavier that the Wrights’. Both aircraft can lift a passenger in addition to the pilot. Much of Voisin machine’s extra weight is in the undercarriage structure – which enables it to take off without extra equipment, while the Wright machine needs a launching mechanism.
p. 18 The Wright machine has 20 kg/hp, whereas the Voisin aircraft has 14.2 kg/hp. M.W. Lanchester, in a lecture given on 3 December [1908?] to the Aeronautical Society of Great Britain, concluded that the Wright machine was better designed aerodynamically, since it requires considerably power to fly. According to Lanchester, the maximum weight that the Wright machine could carry in flight would be 612 kg (24.5 kg/hp), while the Voisin machine could carry 780 kg (or 16 kg/hp). The lower carrying capacity of the Voisin is the outcome of its propeller and of its vertical surfaces causing drag.
The Voisin’s propeller, being attached directly to the engine (vs. the Wrights’ arrangement of chain drive) is much superior. The Wrights’ propeller design is, however, more ‘rational’ than the Voisin’s.
p. 19 The Wrights’ double propeller is dangerous, because if one chain breaks the unequal thrust would clearly cause upset of the plane.
The longitudinal stability of the Wright machine depends entirely on the skill of the pilot. The Voisins have first and foremost given their machine a built in stability.
Early flights by Farman and Delagrange in the Voisin aircraft showed pitch oscillations. These do not happen any more, because of the skill of the pilots. One of the best demonstrations of the stability of the Voisin machine is that Delagrange cut the ignition at 8 metres, and glided easily to the ground.
p. 20 The Wrights’ wing warping allows sharp turns.
The Voisin aircraft has no control providing lateral stability. Changes of direction are produced by the use of the rudder in the tail. Farman has therefore always made large radius turns. But the lateral stability of the Voisin machine leaves nothing to be desired.
The Wrights’ aircraft seems fragile, and of very simple construction.
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‘Affaire Voisin-Farman’ MAELB dossier Voisin Frères v. 7, folder Gabriel Voisin.
[This has a few typed documents, the author of which is not stated]
[The writer of the first document says] He was brought into this affair by a letter of M. Benvenisti, a lawyer of the Court of Appeal (Cour d’Appel). Benvenisti came to find the author on 14 February [1910?] and returned with M. Gabriel Voisin on 7 March.
Benvenisti and Voisin told the author that they had attacked Farman for infringement/imitation [contrefaçon] of an aeroplane. The affair had been judged by the Tribunal de Commerce, and Voisin’s complaint had been dismissed. Voisin had appealed [‘appelait’] and asked the writer to produce a report in which he would give his technical views on the resemblances and differences between the Voisin and Farman airplanes. He gave the writer the judgement and proceedings before the Tribunal de Commerce, along with some printed documents and some photographs establishing the similarities of the two machines. It was also agreed that before writing his report, the writer would wait for a letter from M. Benvenisti.
[typed page marked F00003, and dated 15 April 1911]
The similarities between the Voisin and
Farman aircraft are these:
Aerodynamic principals: a large cell
[biplane wing] forward, made up of two superimposed planes, joined to
a small cell in the tail, also of two superimposed planes; a
horizontal surface [‘gouvernail’] forward; and vertical surface
[‘gouvernail’] in the tail. The two machines are similar in all
points.
Construction details: The method of fixing the upright pieces [‘montants’] to the longerons is the same, by aluminium links bolted to the longerons. The means of clamping, the form of the tensioners, the form of the eye bolts, the profile of the pieces of wood is rigorously the same. The means of attaching the main cell to the rear cell is the same – a beam fitted with tensioners. The propeller is placed in the same position. The pilot is seated in the same place.
The means of attachment of the horizontal rudder [elevator] [on the Farman machine] is an exact copy of [the arrangement on] the aircraft delivered to MM. Archdeacon and Blériot in 1905.
Only the manner of the wheels has been changed. But the mounting of the skids [‘patins’] is a precise reproduction of the mounting of the floats fitted to the Archdeacon machine in 1905, and to those of Archdeacon and Delagrange in 1907. The wheels have been fixed to the skids.
The only difference between the Farman and Voisin machines is in the rudder control [or possibly elevator control – the word used is ‘gouvernail’]. But Farman knew of the Voisin patent for the movement that he used, and has done all he can to avoid infringing that patent.
The curvature of the wings, and the joining of the frames with T shaped pieces of wood, are very similar.
For all information, see L’Aérophile for 15 January 1910, pp. xiv and xv.
‘Affaire Voisin/Farman’
On Friday 7 April [1910 presumably] the writer [not identified] went to the Voisin workshops at 34 Quai du Point du Jour, Billancourt. He was received by M. Gabriel Voisin and M. [blank].
He was shown drawings going back to the beginnings of the Voisin firm (i.e. 1905) and various pieces of correspondence. The writer asked for a chronological note [list?] of the drawings and of letters pertinent to the claims being made.
Gabriel Voisin pointed out certain details, notably the pieces of aluminium called ‘godets’ [cup, recipient] used for assembly of the wooden parts of the aircraft. The means of attaching cloth were also pointed out.
Attachment is by slipping the wooden curves into a sewn sheath or cladding, which resists up and down movement. In particular, for wings that are cloth covered top and bottom, the upper fabric submitted to external pressure [‘dépression’] is perfectly maintained, while on many aircraft it is merely nailed with upholstery tacks.
p. 2 [The writer states] The general arrangements of the aircraft were known to him, and he recalls clearly that in 1907 and 1908 the aircraft flown by Delagrange and by Farman were almost identical, such that it was almost impossible to tell one from the other. He knew that both aircraft had been built by Voisin.
He examined drawings from that time. The drawing are titled ‘Farman’s aircraft’ and ‘Delagrange’s aircraft’; but they are both Voisin designs.
The writer and Voisin then went to Issy-les-Moulineaux, and into the dirigible hangar of the Société Astra. Voisin showed the writer a current Farman aircraft and one of his own machines. He pointed out the general similarities and certain detailed arrangements, notably having to do with the aluminium ‘godets’ [cups] which attach the cloth covering. These are identical [on the Farman machine, presumably] to what is on old Voisins. This is clearly a case of copying.
p. 3 On Voisin aircraft, the pieces that connect the wing longerons with the main beams [‘poutres maîtresses’] are too long. The explanation is that there was once, in the part close to the supporting surface against the longeron, a vertical hole through both horizontal surfaces of the assembly, serving to give passage to the mobile axis of the landing gear. This has now been modified, but the Voisin company has kept the old arrangement to save the cost of change – knowing that the supplementary length was useless. On the Farman aircraft the same arrangement is found, although Farman never had to have his landing gear arranged in the same way. This is proof that the parts have been copied by Farman from Voisin.
The writer and Voisin then returned to the Voisin workshops. Farman may very well reply that the parts he has reproduced are insignificant.
p. 4 The aileron appears in the design of Voisin aircraft from long ago [‘une époque ancienne’].
Before giving an opinion of the question, the writer must have discussion with the Voisin company’s lawyer, M. Benvenisti.
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Le Matin, 16 April 1909, p. 2.
‘La première fabrique d’ailes’
[a column on the Voisin brothers’ factory, mostly froth]
Twenty aircraft from the factory have flown. Thirty-eight more will appear soon, destined for Russia, Germany, England, Belgium, Denmark, Italy, and France.
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Ch. Faroux and G. Bonnet, Aero-Manuel. Repertoire sportif, technique et commercial de l'Aeronautique, Dunot and Pinat, Paris, nd, p. 23.
16 June. Bleriot and Gabriel Voisin are awarded the Osiris prize of 100,000 francs.
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