H.King Aeromarine Origins (Putnam)
A powered aircraft resembling Mr Ludlow's was entered, early in 1909, for both the aeroplane and motor-boat meetings at Monaco. Called an aeroscaphe, and piloted by Monsieur Ravaud, it had a seven-cylinder Gnome and was about 25 ft long. There were two concentric propellers aft. This craft never left the water and ultimately came to grief.
L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Ravaud
Sometimes the distinction between aeroplane, hydroplane, and motorboat become blurred: the term "aeroscaphe" describes some sort of combination. Roger Ravaud built 2 different aeroscaphes, the first of which was built in 1908 and entered in both the aeroplane and motorboat races at Monaco in 1909. It had twin floats, with vertical frames to support 3 pairs of equal-span biplane wing cells; the pilot sat amidships at a tilted steering wheel. The rotary motor mounted on its back drove 2 contra-rotating pusher propellers through a vertical shaft and a gearbox. It was tested with and without the middle pair of wings, and on a 4-wheeled land-chassis. It was wrecked at the Monaco meeting.
(Span: 3.25 m; length: 8.5 m; 50 hp Gnome)