Thomann

   Thomann built bicycles: he was familiar with welded steel tubing and had worked with Delagrange, and when he began building aeroplanes by his own he used this construction. His first monoplane was built in Suresnes, a western Paris suburb. Delagrange had been killed in January 1910, and it is possible he had helped with the design. Similar to the Bleriot XI, it differed in its fuselage: it was of rectangular section forward, triangular aft, fully covered; the frame was built in 3 sections joined with bolted collars as in bicycle construction. It also differed in the tail, which consisted of one long triangular tailplane on each side of the fuselage with a single elevator, a long triangular fin, and a small rudder at the end of it with another below the fuselage.
   A second monoplane flew at the end of the summer of 1910; it may well have been the first one rebuilt. The fuselage was uncovered aft, and the typical Bleriot high angle of attack was reduced; a rectangular tailplane was added below the aft fuselage.

   (Span: 8.8 m; length: 7.5 m; empty weight: 175 kg; gross weight: more than c 200 kg; speed: 70 kmh; 25 hp Anzani - when fitted with a 45 hp Anzani, speed was said to be c 90 kmh)

   At the time of this new machine, Thomann was reported building aeroplanes designed by others; Thomann's own designs were held by the CINA at Issy, where Thomann built and flew his machines. Early in 1911 the hangar at Issy was described as a "ruche" (beehive) with "half a dozen monoplanes" parked in it. The later Thomanns had fuselages of all-rectangular section and were very sturdy; one photograph shows 8 men sitting on one of them laid across 2 packing cases, and another shows 4 men climbing into a fuselage held vertically. The tail surfaces were more rounded, with the tailplane now set between the upper and lower fuselage longerons. One photograph shows 3 machines, one with the earlier tail, another with a large 5 painted on the fin.
   After the war Thomann built motorcycles.
  
   (Span: 8.5 m; length: 7 m; wing area: 17 sqm)