L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
De Bolotoff
Serge de Bolotoff, son of the wealthy Russian Princess Wiasemsky, was not much more than 20 in 1908 when he ordered his triplane from Gabriel Voisin. Although it shared some features with other Voisins, other features were unique - in particular the heavy vertical wooden beams to support the landing gear. It first appeared in the press of 1908 as "the 100 hp de Bolotoff," a big machine with a 100 hp Panhard-Levassor driving a tractor propeller, with a covered fuselage and biplane tail cellule. It continued to attract notice as late as March 1910 at Mourmelon, where it ran here and there around the field. One journalist observed that "the enormous apparatus" designed to cross the Channel had never flown, and "some think it would be better if it never did so." It crashed at Brooklands in 1914. So it did cross the Channel - in a boat.
(Span: 11 m; length: 12 m; gross weight: 1200 kg; 100 hp Panhard-Levassor)
Voisin
De Bolotoff: This big triplane is described under de Bolotoff.
M.Goodall, A.Tagg British Aircraft before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
De BOLOTOFF triplane (Prince Serge de Bolotoff, Brooklands)
This young Russian aristocrat was for a time the owner of a Voisin in France in 1909, but later moved with his mother to West Norwood, where his large triplane was built. It had Voisin-type side curtains and box tail and, with the narrow track undercarriage, it was necessary to provide skids at the tips of the wings and the tail in addition to the tail-wheel. The two-bladed tractor propeller was driven by a 120hp Panhard eight-cylinder vee water-cooled engine. It was taxied at Brooklands on 22 November 1913 by Harold Barnwell, the Bristol pilot, but the undercarriage was damaged on rough ground. Little more was heard of the machine, which was already an obsolete type and was under-powered.
Data
Span 35ft 9in
Length 39ft
Gross Wt about 2640 lb
P.Lewis British Aircraft 1809-1914 (Putnam)
De Bolotoff Triplane
Prince Serge de Bolotoff completed his large Voisin-type tractor triplane at Brooklands towards the end of 1913. The engine was a 120 h.p. four-cylinder Panhard which drove a two-bladed propeller. The tailwheel was augmented by a pair of short skids, and further skids were mounted at the tips of the wings and of the unusually large tail unit. Taxying tests were made at Brooklands in November, 1913, where the machine was damaged by a gust of wind while on the ground.
