L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
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Givaudan
Claude Givaudan was born in 1872 and received his balloon brevet in 1911. He became a builder of small 3-wheeled vehicles and went to work for the Vermorel automobile and engine company at Villefranche. There he designed and built his first aeroplane, sometimes referred to as the Vermorel monoplane. The pilot sat in the middle of a long uncovered triangular girder set on 4 wheels. At each end was a large cylindrical drum, each with a smaller concentric drum inside connected to the outer drum with 8 vanes for lift and stability. Each double drum could pivot: the front for altitude - and the rear for directional control. The arrangement was meant to be proof against side gusts in the air: it was certainly safe in this respect, since it never got off the ground. The engine was mounted just forward of the pilot, and drove a tractor propeller through a long shaft.
(Wing area: 15 sqm; 40 hp Vermorel engine)
A subsequent version was sometimes known as the Vermorel triplane, having 3 small extensions fitted to each side of the forward drum, and single ones at each side of the rear drum.
(Span (drum diameters): (front) 2.8 m, 1.5m; (rear) 2.4 m, 1.3 m; length of drums: (front) 1 m; (rear) .8 m; length of fuselage: 7 m; wing area within drums: (front) 19 sqm; (rear) 14.8 sqm: wing area of winglets: (front) 11 sqm; (rear) 8.7 sqm; weight: 360 kg; 50 hp Vermorel V8, modified by Givaudan)
Givaudan was vice-president of the Aero Club de France when he died in 1945.
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