L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
The fourth design was unlike all the others; it was built in 1912, likely by Voisin, and shown at the Salon of that year. The wing and tail were those of the previous seaplane - or very like them; the engine was buried between the lower wings in the low-set fuselage behind the 2-man crew and was connected through a chain to the pusher propeller. 2 main wheels supported it amidships, with 2 more in the front as in many of the Voisins; a skid held up the tail.
It is quite possible that Sanchez-Besa's early Voisin-Iike designs were in fact actual Voisins, more or less. At this time Gabriel Voisin, he of the terrible temper, had few customers, and Sanchez-Besa may have been a kind of sponsor to his work, as Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe was to be a few months later.
Voisin
Sanchez-Besa: Built in 1912, this was the last of the Voisins built to the designs of others; it is described under Sanchez-Besa.
Jane's All The World Aircraft 1913
SANCHEZ BESA. 2 avenue de Villiers, Paris.
Model and date. 1912 1912 1913
Hydro-biplane. Hydro-biplane. Hydro-biplane.
(amphibious)
Length...........feet (m.) 34 (10.40) ... 32-3/4 (10)
Span.............feet (m.) 54 (16.40) 55-3/4 (17) 54-3/4 (16.60)
Area........sq. feet (m?.) 646 (60) ... 646 (60)
Weight, total...lbs.(kgs.) 1984 (900) ... 1102 (500)
useful....lbs.(kgs.) ... ... ...
Motor.................h.p. 100 Renault 70 Renault 70 Renault
Speed,max......m.p.h.(km.) 56 (90) ... 50 (80)
Endurance.............hrs. 5 5 6
Number built during 1912 3 1 1
Notes.--Wood and steel construction.
Controls.--Ailerons and rear elevators. Floats: The first has two and the second three floats. The 1913 model has a single boat body mounted on wheels.
Журнал Flight
Flight, November 16, 1912.
THE PARIS AERO SALON.
Sanchez Besa.
THE biplane they are exhibiting shows, in its methods of construction and the design of its details, an extraordinary amount of Voisin influence. But we can scarcely think that the general design is of the same origin. Primarily it seems that the machine has been designed as a hydro-biplane of the Donnet-Leveque type, for it has a fuselage somewhat of the same type as the coque of that machine, and its main planes are arranged wholly above it. A 75-h.p. Renault is used, which is stowed away in the fuselage and which drives by chain transmission a propeller set practically level with the top plane. The landing gear with which it is fitted is purely Voisin. If the machine were a hydro-aeroplane we could probably understand why this disposition had been adopted, but as the machine shown is purely one for use over land, it would be rather interesting to know why the designer has departed so radically from what is recognised as the best possible arrangement of such factors as centres of gravity, of head resistance, and of thrust.
