L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
In late 1906 the Voisin brothers hired a draftsman, Maurice Colliex, and formed a new firm, Les Freres Voisin, thus becoming the first manufacturers of aeroplanes - the first real aircraft factory. They had 2 plans: first to build the often bizarre and complicated and generally unsuccessful projects of rich amateurs who wished to make something original, and thus to collect enough capital to carry out their second plan: to develop their own early designs tested on the Seine into a successful flying machine. To attract customers to both plans, Voisin decided to name the machine after the purchaser rather than himself; the firm's name appeared in small print under the buyer's. In January 1906 they designed a remarkable streamlined twin-propeller hydroplane (but Voisin's own drawing is titled Aeroplane...) for a M Filiasi.