Lataste

   If more than one poor and heavily retouched photograph had survived, this machine might be classed with the Domingo, the d'Equevilly-Justin, and the Givaudan as one of the most famous curiosities of the pre-War period. The so-called Aeroplane Gyroscopique, built of metal and covered with fabric, appeared in 1909-1910: it featured a long uncovered tapered frame with a propeller at each end; each propeller had 2 semicircular blades like sections of archimedean screws, and turned the same way. Above the frame was a flat rotating circular surface, probably mounted on a swivel joint. This surface and the propellers were driven through a long horizontal propeller shaft and planetary gears; the shaft ran through a cylindrical fuel tank inside the fuselage. The machine was mounted on 4 wheels with the pilot sitting among them, holding tightly to a steering wheel, which perhaps controlled the rotating surface high above him.

   (Length: c 7.5 m; diameter of the disc: c 6 m)