Contal

   During 1909 and 1910 Contal, the inventor of a motorcycle called the Mototri, tried to build a successful flying machine; "many previous attempts" are mentioned in the literature without further details. On 2 April 1910 he rolled out a monoplane he had built with Protin, but abandoned it shortly as being too complicated. The Protin-Contal had adjustable swept-back wings, a rear elevator, a 40 hp 4-cylinder inline Dansette-Gillet engine driving 2 Liore tractor propellers at 800 rpm. The controls worked by 2 levers, on the left for direction and on the right for warping. When both moved forward they controlled the elevator and the sweeping back of the wings; Contal could not make this system work properly.

   (Span: 12 m; length: 9 m; wing area: 24 sqm; gross weight: c 400 kg; 40 hp 4-cylinder inline Dansette-Gillet)