L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Gyroplane Breguet-Richet No 2: In 1908 the firm built No 2, a monoplane with a pair of 4-bladed biplane rotors (the same rotors as in No 1?) below each wingtip. A long outrigger strut on each side below the lower wings had a wheel at each outer end, and carried the lower ends of the long rotor axles; another supported the drive wheels at the center of each rotor. The wing had a single spar only, and was apparently arranged to have variable incidence. An awkward angular fuselage rested awkwardly on 4 wheels with a 5th to the rear, and a tall awkward rudder rose at the tail end with a long awkward tailplane beneath it. The pilot sat out in the open in front. A modification had a long covered nose extension to the fuselage resting on a tricycle undercarriage, and a second wing set between the 2 outriggers on each side. In this one both wings could pivot on their single spars. The machine never got off the ground and was abandoned.
(Rotor diameter: 8 m)
Gyroplane Breguet-Richet No 2bis: This version was built in 1908/1909, and was destroyed in its hangar during a storm before it could be tested. It was a handsome big biplane canard, with the front pair of wings of shorter span than the rear; both pairs featured the single spars and single wide struts of the No 2. On each side, between the inboard wing struts of both the front pair and the rear pair of wings, was fitted a pair of long crossed struts. At the center of each long X was the hub of a 4-paddle-bladed rotor, arranged to tilt back and forth, evidently for control and propulsion. The engine was set on the top of the fuselage amidships. The machine had the same tricycle undercarriage of the No 2, with the addition of wingtip wheels on the aft pair of wings.
Журнал Flight
Flight, January 9, 1909
THE FIRST PARIS AERONAUTICAL SALON.
"Breguet-Richet (No. 2)."
Helicopter-aeroplane, combining the principles of the lifting screw with the aeroplane pure and simple. The screws are two in number, and are placed at an angle of 40 degs. to the vertical between the front and rear biplanes.
They are driven by bevel gearing from a 50-h.p. 8-cyl. Antoinette engine placed transversely, and are stated to give a starting lift of 300 kilogs. with a horizontal pull of 250 kilogs. at 300 r.p m. Each screw has four flexible blades, and is 4.3 metres in diameter. Of the two main planes, the biplane at the rear has a spread of 14 metres, while the monoplane in front is 10 metres across; together (and with a few other smaller planes) a total of 60 sq. metres surface is provided. The rudder is behind, and the elevator in front beneath the fixed monoplane.
Between the main plane are two horizontal steering planes, which twist in an inverse sense, and are controlled by a pedal. The machine weighs 550 kilogs., and has been constructed at Douai by M. Breguet; its frame is made entirely of steel. It is very large, and looks cumbersome, but is not very heavy for its dimensions.
