L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Ladougne
At the end of 1911 Andre Ladougne left the firm of Ambroise Goupy, where he had been a pilot, to become a builder himself. He designed 2 small monoplanes inspired by the fastest Nieuports, both named La Colombe (dove). The first was a single-seater which flew for the first time at Juvisy on 1 January 1912, and was reported to be "the quickest aircraft ever seen there." The rectangular fuselage was narrow (.68 m at the widest), but very deep (1.5 m at the cockpit); the section decreased quickly aft of the cockpit. The top longerons were straight, the lower ones bellied down. As on the Nieuports, the wings were trapezoidal with the same double-curved section. On the triangular tailplane were 2 elevators with distinctive inwardly-curving ends; the large rudder had a similar shape. The rear legs of the 4-leg undercarriage curved out in front to become skids. The machine was flown first with a 28 hp 3-cylinder Anzani and achieved 96 kmh; refitted with a 50 hp Gnome it reached 120 kmh.
(Span: 8.6 m; length: 7.1 m; wing area: 16 sqm; empty weight (Anzani): 230 kg; (Gnome): 260 kg)
The second Colombe was built for the 1912 Circuit d'Anjou, a more powerful and slightly larger tandem 2-seater.
(Span: 9.7 m; length: 7.6 m; wing area: 17 sqm; 75 hp 6-cylinder Anzani)
The 2 aircraft had similar shapes and were similarly constructed: the wings were built on shaped spars fitted to the fuselage through 8 cm tubes; the first 3 ribs were of ash, the others poplar. The whole airframe was covered with varnished fabric. Control was through a single lever or an oscillating bridge; rudder pedals were retained for those who were accustomed to using them.
Bobba and Divetain, also former Goupy pilots, flew the 2 Colombes; Divetain crashed in the 2-seater in the Anjou contest. After the accident, Ladougne gave up his firm and joined Bobba in Italy, where together they formed a new company to build monoplanes copied from the Moranes and Morane-Saulniers.