L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
The second de Dion-Bouton design was a biplane with a single front elevator, built at the Espinosa Avionnerie (SACAA). The fuselage consisted of twin booms each with 2 kingposts, the pilot sitting between them amidships; the wings were rectangular and of equal span, with ailerons mounted on square panels set between them; the tail was fixed at the ends of the outriggers. The 100 hp DDB V8 motor with a large radiator set on the leading edge of the lower wing drove, Wright-style, 2 4-blade pusher propellers. The machine was tested in 1911 at Chares by a pilot named Coursier. Photographs appearing in 1912 showed several modifications: the ailerons were now made part of the longer upper wings and the single tailplane was replaced with a biplane cell. Some said the machine was designed to test a new DDB 100 hp engine, and others said it could carry up to 10 people; on 2 August 1911 piloted by Champel, it leaped over a depression in the center of the field. De Dion compared his giant to the huge steamship Great Eastern, and admitted it changed form continuously as he worked on it.
(Span (upper): 18.5 m; (lower): 16 mi length: 15 m; wing area; 80 sqm: propeller diameter: 3.2 m; empty weight: 450 kg)
Журнал Flight
Flight, August 12, 1911.
The De Dion Biplane.
THE latest De Dion biplane has just made its appearance in the open and created a good deal of interest in French aeronautical circles, chiefly by reason of its large size and massive construction. In general appearance, as will be gathered from our photograph, the machine resembles the Henry Farman type of machine, while the main beams running fore and aft are reminiscent of the Paulhan design. Two four-bladed propellers are driven by chains from a 100-h.p. 8-cylinder V-type De Dion engine, and a tubular radiator is fitted in front of the driver's seat. The span of the main planes is 20 metres and the surface 100 sq. metres, while the weight is given as 1,200 kilogs. The trials are to be conducted by Champel, who, it will be remembered, was at the Lanark meeting with a Voisin machine last year.