L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
2. The second was a 2-seater of 8-meter span which may never have flown. A monoplane appeared in the Avia stand in the Exposition of 1910, fitted with a 5-cylinder 40 hp Anzani; contemporary ads list it for 12,000F. It was similar to the current Bleriot, but with a big deckled-edged rudder set on the top of the rear fuselage, and a long fan-shaped tailplane set underneath. A single tailwheel on a long stalk supported the aft end of the machine.
3. The third was a single-seater copy of the Bleriot XI; at least 4 were built. The trailing main wheels were attached through a complex metal cage; 4 vertical struts comprised the main pylon. The rudder was like the Bleriot, but the tailplane was of swallow-tail shape with semicircular elevators.
4. There was also a small training plane for Avia students, a highwing monoplane resembling the Demoiselle.
(Span: 9 m; 30 hp Dutheil et Chalmers)
Besides building these machines of their own design, Avia offered to build the 1909-type Henry Farman and the type americain, Wright copies with larger front elevators and tailplanes - but no rudder. These were shown in 3 variations with extended wings as on their own earlier biplanes. The first, with one seat and 30 hp, sold for 16,000F (7,000F for airframe alone), spanned 8 m. The second, a 2-seaterof 30 hp, sold for 17,000F and spanned 13 m. The third spanned 14 m without the wing extension, and sold for 22,000F with a 40 hp engine.
Avia also offered Dutheil et Chalmers engines as Avia Type A1, and Eole engines as Avia Type B. It may have been because of their connection with Dutheil et Chalmers that the photograph of a Santos-Dumont Demoiselle appeared briefly in their catalog; it was fitted with a Dutheil et Chalmers engine, and they had planned to build the machine in quantity. None was so produced, and the aeroplane in the picture was eventually preserved in the Musee de l'Air.
In 1910 Avia began building spares, accessories, propellers, and hangars. But before the 1910 Salon opened, they were forced to give up their business and sell out to Lecomte for only 5,900F; Roux went on to found ACR (Aeroplanes Charles Roux) with Garaix; Emile Bonnet joined his brothers at ABL (Aeroplanes Bonnet-Labranche). In the 1930s another firm took over the name and for 3 years built gliders.
The Avia name was also used by other firms; several cabinet-makers who claimed to build aircraft to the purchasers' designs used it as well.