L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Roux, Charles
When he left the disbanded Avia firm, Charles Roux founded his own firm ACR (Aeroplanes Charles Roux), at first advertising for his own designs. The office was located first at rue de Provence in Paris, and then on the Ile de la Grande Jatte - made famous by die painter Seurat - west of Paris. His metal monoplane, probably his 7th design (cf Avia and his first 6), was designed early in 1911 and completed on 1 March: everybody, including Roux, was amazed at its first easy 700-meter flight across the field at Issy-les-Moulineaux. Wooden wings were mounted on top of the triangular metal fuselage: the tailplane was a long triangle, and the rudder was shaped like a kidney. The engine was a 45 hp Anzani.
Victor Garaix was the former mechanic of Charles Roux while Roux was with the Avia firm, and later became his chief pilot at ACR at Issy. When Roux gave up, ACR became Aerotourisme Victor Garaix, and the so-called Garaix monoplanes were actually ACRs. Garaix achieved his brevet in October 1912 on one of these machines. Garaix was advertising 40 or 50 hp Anzani-powered monoplanes at 6000 and 8000F, and 60 or 80 hp 2-seaters at 10 and 12000F: it is likely that most were not built. These prices were low for the period, and suggest that Garaix was not selling them well.
(Span (2-seater): 9.4 m; length: 8.5 m; wing area: 18 sqm: empty weight: 260 kg; fitted initially with a 50/60 hp Dutheil et Chalmers when the machine was known as an ACR)
Eventually Garaix returned to Chartres, and then he gave up the business. While at Chartres he seems to have sold a single monoplane to Alexandre; the machine was then described as an Alexandre. He became chief pilot for Paul Schmitt, and did the few record flights upon which his reputation now rests.
After leaving ACR, Charles Roux worked for a while for other firms: he was chief designer for CINA (Compagnie Internationale de Navigation Aerienne, also known as SNA, or Societe de Navigation Aerienne), where he worked on the Shigeno and the Demazel. He also worked in a firm titled Aerogarage. It is possible that he was hired away from ACR by CINA, leaving Garaix to handle the business.