The Antoinette VII was an early
French aircraft, flown in 1909.
History
The VII was a further development of the
Antoinette IV
The Antoinette IV was an early French monoplane.
Design and development
The Antoinette IV was a high-wing aircraft with a fuselage of extremely narrow triangular cross-section and a cruciform tail. Power was provided by a V8 engine of Léon Lev ...
, with increased
engine
An engine or motor is a machine designed to convert one or more forms of energy into mechanical energy.
Available energy sources include potential energy (e.g. energy of the Earth's gravitational field as exploited in hydroelectric power gen ...
power and using a
wing warping
Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...
system implemented by
Levavasseur for the
Antoinette V
The Antoinette V was an early France, French aircraft, first flown on 20 December 1908.
Design
Following closely to the winning formula that Levavasseur had introduced, the Antoinette V introduced a revised undercarriage, with a closely spaced ...
in place of the Antoinette IV's
aileron
An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...
s.
With this aircraft, Levavasseur hoped that Antoinette test pilot
Hubert Latham
Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first of two attempts to cross ...
would be able to make the crossing of the
English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
that he had previously attempted in the Antoinette IV and claim the ''
Daily Mail
The ''Daily Mail'' is a British daily middle-market tabloid newspaper and news websitePeter Wilb"Paul Dacre of the Daily Mail: The man who hates liberal Britain", ''New Statesman'', 19 December 2013 (online version: 2 January 2014) publish ...
'' prize then on offer. As it happened, the Antoinette VII's first flight took place on 25 July 1909, the same day that
Louis Blériot
Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...
succeeded in crossing the channel in his
Blériot XI
The Blériot XI is a French aircraft of the pioneer era of aviation. The first example was used by Louis Blériot to make the first flight across the English Channel in a heavier-than-air aircraft, on 25 July 1909. This is one of the most fam ...
. Undaunted, Latham made the attempt anyway on 27 July. Unfortunately, the result was the same, with Latham making a forced landing this time within sight of the English coast only away. He and the aircraft were rescued by
HMS ''Russell''.
The following month, Latham flew the same aircraft at the ''
Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne
The ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne'' was an 8-day aviation meeting held near Reims in France in 1909, so-named because it was sponsored by the major local champagne growers. It is celebrated as the first international public flying ev ...
'', winning the prize for altitude (155 m, 509 ft) and coming second in the contest for the fastest circuit, with a speed of 68.9 km/h, 42.8 mph
Specifications
See also
*
Gastambide-Mengin monoplane __NOTOC__
The Gastambide-Mengin monoplane (later Gastambide-Mengin I, Gastambide-Mengin II and Antoinette II) was an early French experimental aircraft designed by Léon Levavasseur, and was the first aircraft built by the Antoinette company. T ...
*
Antoinette III
Tha Antoinette III was a pioneer aircraft developed in France during 1908.
Development
After the limited success of the Gastambide-Mengin monoplane Levavasseur completely revised the design resulting in the Antoinette III. The inadequate roll c ...
*
Antoinette IV
The Antoinette IV was an early French monoplane.
Design and development
The Antoinette IV was a high-wing aircraft with a fuselage of extremely narrow triangular cross-section and a cruciform tail. Power was provided by a V8 engine of Léon Lev ...
*
Antoinette V
The Antoinette V was an early France, French aircraft, first flown on 20 December 1908.
Design
Following closely to the winning formula that Levavasseur had introduced, the Antoinette V introduced a revised undercarriage, with a closely spaced ...
*
Antoinette VI
__NOTOC__
The Antoinette VI was an early French aircraft, flown in 1909. It was a development of the Antoinette IV, its major technological advance being that it was fitted with true ailerons, whereas the former aircraft had ailerons mounted a ...
*
Antoinette military monoplane
The Antoinette military monoplane, also known as the Antoinette Monobloc or the Antoinette-Latham was an early 3-seat monoplane built in France in 1911 by the Antoinette company in the hope of attracting orders from the French military. It featu ...
*
Fedor Ivanovich Bylinkin Fedor Ivanovich Bylinkin was an aircraft designer and builder in Russia before World War I. He designed and built a monoplane in 1910 similar to the Antoinette VI which succeeded in reaching 200 m of flight. A later biplane design proved a failu ...
, designer of a similar aircraft, 1910
Antoinette VII un avión con historia
References
*
* ''World Aircraft Information Files.'' Brightstar Publishing: London. File 889 Sheet 63.
External links
Antoinette VII en Argentina
{{Antoinette aircraft and aero engines
High-wing aircraft
Single-engined tractor aircraft
1900s French experimental aircraft
7
Aircraft first flown in 1909