The Caudron C.109 was a light utility aircraft built in France in the late 1920s.

Design and development

The C.109 was a parasol-winged braced monoplane of conventional configuration with fixed tailskid

undercarriage Undercarriage is the part of a moving vehicle that is underneath the main body of the vehicle. The term originally applied to this part of a horse-drawn carriage, and usage has since broadened to include: *The landing gear of an aircraft. *The ch ...

. The pilot and single passenger sat in tandem open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

s. C.109s were used in a number of record attempts of the day, and were used to set distance records in the under 350 kg class of 868 km on 19 May 1927 (piloted by Juste Thoret), and 1,581 km on 27 October 1927 (piloted by Max Knipping), a women's duration record of 26 hours 47 minutes on 27 July 1929 (piloted by

Maryse Bastié Maryse Bastié (27 February 1898 – 6 July 1952) was a French aviator who set several international records for female aviators during the 1930s. Early life She was born Marie-Louise Bombec in Limoges, Haute-Vienne; Bastié's father died ...

), and the first crossing of Mediterranee by a woman,

Léna Bernstein Léna Bernstein (1906–1932) was the first woman to fly across the Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north ...

(19 August 1929), 2,268 km.

Survivors

At least one aircraft survived to fly postwar, ''F-PFLN'', ''F-AIQI'' prewar, being airworthy at Mitry-Mory airfield near Paris in 1957. This aircraft is held in the collection of the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace at Le Bourget but is not currently on public display.

Variants

;C.109 :Two-seat light utility aircraft. ;C.109.2 :One surviving C.109 was fitted with an Salmson 5Aq radial engine. ;C.110 :Only two aircraft were built. Fitted with a

Salmson 5AC Between 1920 and 1951 the Société des Moteurs Salmson in France developed and built a series of widely used air-cooled aircraft engines.Gunston 1986, p. 158. Design and development After their successful water-cooled radial engines, developed ...

radial engine. ;C.113:A development of the C.110, powered by a

Anzani 6A-3 Anzani was an engine manufacturer founded by the Italian Alessandro Anzani (1877–1956), which produced proprietary engines for aircraft, cars, boats, and motorcycles in factories in Britain, France and Italy. Overview From his native Ital ...

engine. ;C.114 :Fitted with an Anzani 6-cylinder radial engine. ;C.117 :Fitted with a

Salmson 5Ac Between 1920 and 1951 the Société des Moteurs Salmson in France developed and built a series of widely used air-cooled aircraft engines.Gunston 1986, p. 158. Design and development After their successful water-cooled radial engines, developed ...

radial engine.

Operators

; *

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (AAE) (french: Armée de l'air et de l'espace, ) is the air and space force of the French Armed Forces. It was the first military aviation force in history, formed in 1909 as the , a service arm of the French Army; ...

Specifications (C.109)

Design and development

Survivors

Variants

Operators

Specifications (C.109)

References

Bibliography

Further reading