What on earth is this?

[Sigurjon Valsson]

Ok guys, I´m new to this First World War stuff. So far, my main interest has been WW2 and later, but the more I look at WW1, the more I get interested

I went to the Musée de l´air et de l´espace in Paris a few weeks ago, and I was really swept away with their pre-WW1 and WW1 exhibits. Some (most actually), I knew before, and knew what I was looking at. There were, however, a few aircraft I didn´t have the faintest idea about.

That´s where I hope you guys can help me. The one below is one of them. I read the name of the aircraft on a sign, and was intending to remember it Of course, I can not remember it now.


All I can remember looking at it, is that it had a two row rotary of 160 hp fitted. That got me interested. How do you fly an aircraft fitted like that? The gyro forces must have been tremendous It must have been a real pig to fly! How does the pilot control the engine? Is there a seperate control for each engine (Air throttle+ blip switch) or are they controlled in harmony. If the two engines were controlled as one, how did they do it?

If anyone is interested, I´m more than willing to make a thread with pictures of all the WW1 aircraft in there. By the way, my photography is crap, all shot on point-and-shoot camera.

All the best,
Sigurjon

[cruze]

It's the "Deperdussin Monocoque" n°334 (1912).
It won the Gordon Bennett Trophy in 1912.

Technical features :
wing span : 6,65 m
length : 6,10 m
wing surface : 9,66 m2
all-up weight : 612 kg
engine : Gnôme 160 Hp (14 rotatives cylinders)
maximum speed : 209 km/h

[Aquilius]

Originally Posted by cruze

It's the "Deperdussin Monocoque" n°334 (1912).
It won the Gordon Bennett Trophy in 1912.

Technical features :
wing span : 6,65 m
length : 6,10 m
wing surface : 9,66 m2
all-up weight : 612 kg
engine : Gnôme 160 Hp (14 rotatives cylinders)
maximum speed : 209 km/h

Cruze,

you are right. It was flown first in 1912. But this year with 100 hp (two row of 50 hp Gnômes) reaching 174,1 km/h.
While Nieuport and Blériot alternated in the lead, from 1912 on no one was faster than Deperdussin.

Sigurjon,

to answer your question about the rotaries is hard for me to prescribe in english.
The two rows were fixed together, so working as one engine with two rows of cylinders (like inline engines have two rows of cylinders)
The cylinders were shifted, not lined up direct behind the first row.

Have a look here: Rotary Engine Theory - 100 hp Gnome Monosoupape
or see what you can get out of wikipedia.

Best Regards

Aquilius

[dusty]

who built this plain??

[Aquilius]

Hello Sigurjon,

what you found seems to be the Deperdussin Monocoque racing monoplane of 1913.



Louis Béchereau was the great designer of this mashine. It´s aerodynamically from, beginning with the chassis, shape of the fuselage, headrest, engine house and the spinner was unique to the time. It probably was powered by two rows Gnôme radial engines, each of 80 hp.
The plane won the last Gordon-Bennet-Cup before the great war in september 1913, marking a new world speed record for aircrafts with just a little more than 200 km/h.
(in 1918 a few fighters could go as fast as this)


Only they were not produced in great numbers and Armand Deperdussin spent the money faster than his airplanes could win. So his company (Société Pour les Appareills Deperdussin - SPAD) went in bankruptcy. Louis Blériot (the man who crossed the channel first) bought up the remaining of the firm just before the war and changed it´s name to 'Sociétè anonyme Pour l´Aviation et ses Dérivés'. He went on to produce aircrafts by the well known name 'SPAD' and also Louis Bécherau did not lost his job. (Just a little history behind)

Cheers

Aquilius