L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Sanchez-Besa
The Chilean aviator Sanchez-Besa was well known in French aeronautical circles for his Spanish accent and his flights in balloons; he went on to design 7 or 8 different heavier-than-air machines from 1909 to 1913, all more or less copies, all more or less unsuccessful. He had been following the careers of Santos-Dumont, Henry Farman, and Leon Delagrange, when at the end of 1908 he went to Mourmelon to fly Voisins.
His first aeroplane was little reported on: 2 or 3 may have been built. A Farman copy, it was introduced in May 1910 at Mourmelon, and later 3 were registered for the 1910 meet at Reims, though they may not actually have been built. One, possibly the first one, possibly the only one, was sold to South Africa in September.
(Span: 11 m; length: 12.5 m; wing area: c 50 sqm; gross weight: 500 kg; 60 hp ENV V8)