L.Opdyke French Aeroplanes Before the Great War (Schiffer)
Deleted by request of (c)Schiffer Publishing
Societe d'Etude pour la Locomotion Aerienne
In 1909 the pilot Gaudard founded the Societe d'Etude pour la Locomotion Aerienne (SELA), for which he was unable to collect the adequate operating capital of 300,000F. G Badini, their designer, built 2 similar aircraft, one which appeared in 1910 at St Cyr, powered by a 55 hp Aviatik engine; the other, a variant, in 1911. They were monoplanes with rectangular wings without dihedral and Bleriot-built undercarriages. The first had a triangular tailplane (later removed) with a large rectangular elevator hinged to it with the rudder posts above and below fixed to the moving surface; the fuselage was uncovered.
The second had its fuselage fully covered, the corners of the wingtips clipped; the tailplane was now triangular and the rudder mounted firmly on the fuselage. Power was a 55 hp Aviatik. This machine was sponsored by La Dentelle au Foyer, a lace-workers' magazine which later bought a Farman for the Army, christened La Dentelle de Puy: the city of Puy was famous for its lace industry.