Lucas-Girardville

   Artillery Captain Lucas-Girardville was one of the 3 pilots to be trained by Wilbur Wright at Auvours according to the agreement signed by Lazare Weiller; but he was apparently too old to learn to fly the difficult Wright biplane at the school.
   In 1910 he completed a huge military aeroplane developed from models tested at the Eiffel Tower and the Renard wind-tunnel at Chalais-Meudon; it used 2 gyroscopes to control stability. Kept very secret, it was referred to as the Enigma or the Gyroscopic Spinning-Top - but more often, probably, La Baignoire (bathtub). A patent dated 1907 was finally registered in 1910.
   It was a high-wing monoplane spanning about 15 m, with rectangular panels of strange airfoil section attached to each side of a large circular surface; and comprised as well 2 forward engines but only one 4-bladed propeller. Some of the controls were manual, others actuated automatically by the gyroscopes. The slatted ailerons were managed by the pilot, the biplane set by one of the gyroscopes; the other was for the elevators. Each gyroscope weighed 5.8 kg and was driven at 12,000 rpm by the engines - and in flight, by wind-driven propellers. The mechanic sat between the engines; there was accommodation for 2 others as well. Loaded, it weighed c 1200 kg with a wing area of 50 sqm.
   In June 1910 it was moved from Chalais to the Vincennes parade field; on 11 June it crashed while taxiing, and poor Lucas-Girardville was injured. In 1912, unfazed, he designed an experimental helicopter: we can only hope he was more successful with this one.