Moisant

   John Moisant was American, born of French-speaking Canadians. He was about 40 when he went to France to learn how to fly, and in 1909 he designed the first of 2 curious aeroplanes. It was an all-metal sesquiplane, the upper wing of long aluminum sheets with 6 rolling chordwise corrugations, each supported by a rectangular chordwise plate underneath. The center-section ran back and became the tail with a nicely rounded elevator at the end, and an oval rudder with a large round hole in it underneath. The whole assembly was mounted on 5 struts above the streamlined boat-like fuselage, in turn made of steel sheets in case of accidental landing on water. A short stub wing helped support the upper wing and the spidery 2-wheeled undercarriage, and a tailwheel on long legs kept the end of the machine off the ground. A forward elevator was controlled with a long rod. It was not successful, having a tendency to turn over on the ground, though a note in Popular Mechanics for September 1910 reports several short flights. It was painted red and known as L'Ecrevisse (crayfish).

   (Wing area: 24 sqm; empty weight: 250 kg; 50 hp Gnome)