L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Clerget
Pierre Clerget is primarily associated with engines; he had been designing them since 1895, first alone, then with Clement-Bayard, then with Blin. He also built at least 2 monoplanes.
The first was also known as the Marquezy or CAM (Clerget-Archdeacon-Marquezy): Archdeacon provided the money for Clerget's design for Marquezy, and helped Clerget design a 4-cylinder inline aero engine. The machine had a long uncovered airfoil-shaped fuselage which was rectangular forward and trapezoidal aft, with a large rounded rudder. The water-cooled Clerget drove a tractor propeller through a long shaft. Marquezy stalled the machine in from 50' on 4 November 1909.
(Span: 9 m; length: 10 m; 50 hp inline Clerget)
From this engine Clerget developed first a 4-cylinder inline of 100 hp, and then a 200 hp V8. At the 1910 Salon a larger monoplane, similar to the earlier one, was shown with 3 dummies in French Army uniforms: the mechanic sat between the rectangular wings, the observer amidships, and the pilot at the rear in front of the large tail unit. The undercarriage was like the Hanriot's; a fuel tank hung below the fuselage amidships.
(Span: 11 m; length: 14 m)
Clerget never went back to aircraft, and is now more famous for his rotaries built as late as the end of the 20s, and for his heavy-oil aircraft engines.
Журнал Flight
Flight, October 29, 1910
IMPRESSIONS OF THE PARIS SHOW - (continued).
By OISEAU.
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On the next stand is displayed a monoplane which is certainly original in conception, a tandem monoplane built by Clerget and Co. for the special purpose of exploiting a 200-h.p. 8-cyl. V-shaped motor designed by the Clerget Co. Following the usual custom of all those exhibiting two or three-seaters at this Salon, they name it a "military type". An ordinary Bleriot type fusellage of 14 metres in length has two sets of wings, the first of 10 metres from tip to tip in the usual forward position, whilst the latter pair, of 7 metres width, are placed 6 metres from the others. Following immediately behind is a tail plane with rudder and elevator. This rear plane seems almost unnecessarily large in view of the great lifting power of the back planes. Between the two series of main planes three seats, placed equidistantly, are arranged. The front one is that of the mecanicien controlling the motor, the observer takes the middle seat, whilst furthest back of all sits the pilot. I am afraid one is not greatly impressed by the prospective ease of management, and great modifications can be expected before any really satisfactory flights can be made.
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