L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Guyot et Verdier
Guyot and Verdier were manufacturers at la Souterraine, in midwestern France, and built at least 2 biplanes, the first finished by the end of 1908. It was a tractor with front elevator and a tailplane at the far rear, with a large rectangular fin and rudder set immediately aft of the wings between the outriggers. The center-section of the top wing was bent slightly upward above the 40 hp flat twin engine on the lower wing, which drove an Antoinette-style propeller. 2 ailerons were hinged between the 2 outer struts at the leading edges of the wings.
The second machine was finished in February 1910, and was taken to the hippodrome la Gueridiere at Dorat, near Clermont-Ferrand in mid-France. A large pusher biplane probably developed from the first and unsuccessful design, No 2 had a 60 hp ENV V8, and ailerons set into the upper wing trailing edges. The tailplane and inset elevator were fixed aft of a very large rudder. During the trials the engine was moved forward, and the metal propeller changed for a wooden one designed by Guyot, which broke soon after. The aeroplane had a wing area of 40 sqm - some said 50 - and was flying "fairly well" over Juvisy by June 1911. It was entered in the Concours Militaire of 1911.