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The Caudron C.450 and C.460 were French racing aircraft built to participate in the ''
Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe
The Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe was an international aeronautical speed competition instituted on 25 August 1909 by the French oil magnate Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe. The race was reinstated three times through the years at the initiative of the ...
'' race of 1934.
Design
Developed from the
Caudron C.362
The Caudron C.362 and the almost identical C.366 were single-seat racing aircraft built in 1933 by Caudron to compete in the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe competition.
Design
The C.362 and C.366 were single-seat, low-wing monoplanes with a fixed u ...
flown in the previous year's race, a single C.450 and three C.460s were built for the 1934 event. All were powered by a supercharged
Renault 456 six-cylinder inverted air-cooled engine driving a Ratier two-position variable-pitch propeller. The airframe was primarily built from spruce and birch plywood, with steel and alloy engine bearers and magnesium cowling and fuel tanks. The wings were fitted with split flaps and the angle of incidence of the tailplane could be varied while in flight. The principal difference between the types was that the C.450 had a fixed spatted undercarriage, while the C.460 had a retractable undercarriage. This difference resulted in structural differences, the retractable undercarriage necessitating a two-spar wing for the C.460 in contrast to the single-spar wing used by the C.450.
[
For the 1936 Coupe de la Meurthe competition Caudron built two examples of a development of the C.460, the C.461. This was slightly larger, long with a wingspan of and weighing empty and had a radically redesigned cockpit, the top being flush with the top of the fuselage and forward vision being limited to what could be seen through glazed-over semi-circular channels set into either side of the fuselage.]
Service history
In the 1934 Coupe de la Meurthe the C.450 took first place, piloted by Maurice Arnoux
Commandant Maurice Albert Alfred Jean Arnoux (7 September 1895 – 6 June 1940) was a French World War I flying ace credited with five aerial victories. After the end of the First World War, he continued his aviation career during the 1930s ...
, and one of the C.460s took third, piloted by Albert Monville. The C.460s had been handicapped by problems with the retractable undercarriage, which resulted in them flying with the undercarriage fixed in the down position during the contest.
On 22 May 1934, flying the C.450, Raymond Delmotte
Raymond is a male given name. It was borrowed into English from French (older French spellings were Reimund and Raimund, whereas the modern English and French spellings are identical). It originated as the Germanic ᚱᚨᚷᛁᚾᛗᚢᚾᛞ ( ...
set a world record for light aircraft over 100 km of .
In August that year, Hélène Boucher
Hélène Boucher (23 May 1908 - 30 November 1934) was a well-known French pilot in the early 1930s, when she set several women's world speed records and the all-comers record for 1,000 km (621 mi) in 1934. She was killed in an acciden ...
set an airspeed record for aircraft in its class with the C.450, of 455 km/h (284 mph) and on Christmas Day 1934 Delmotte set a new airspeed record for light aircraft over a 3 km course of in a C.460.
A C.460 won the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe in 1935, piloted by Delmotte, with an average speed of 443.96 km/h (277.5 mph).
In 1936, a C.460, piloted by Michel Detroyat, also won the Greve Trophy
Greve may refer to:
Places
* Greve (surname), includes a list of people with the name
* Grevë, a village in Albania
* Greve in Chianti, a town in Tuscany, Italy, at the center of the Chianti wine region
* Greve Lake, Chile
* Greve Municipality, ...
and Thompson Trophy at the 1936 National Air Races
The National Air Races (also known as Pulitzer Trophy Races) are a series of pylon and cross-country races that have taken place in the United States since 1920. The science of aviation, and the speed and reliability of aircraft and engines grew ...
in the United States.
The 1936 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe was won by Yves Lacombe
Yves may refer to:
* Yves, Charente-Maritime, a commune of the Charente-Maritime department in France
* Yves (given name), including a list of people with the name
* ''Yves'' (single album), a single album by Loona
* ''Yves'' (film), a 2019 Fren ...
flying the C.450. At the end of the first leg of the race Arnoux, flying one of the C.461s, was leading, having completed the 1000 km at a speed of ahead of Lacombe, whose speed was ; the C.461 flown by Delmotte had retired after losing an exhaust pipe. However technical problems delayed the start of both aircraft for the second leg of the race, and since any time on the ground beyond the allotted hour and a half was counted as flight time, Lacombe, who had not been delayed as long as Arnoux, won the contest, with a speed of . Delmotte achieved the fastest single lap, at a speed of .[
In January 2009 a Fairchild Ranger-powered replica of the C.460 was built by a team including Tom Wathen, Mark Lightsey, Aerocraftsman Inc. and students of the Wathen Aviation High School. The aircraft was displayed at the ]Paris Air Show
The Paris Air Show (french: Salon international de l'aéronautique et de l'espace de Paris-Le Bourget, Salon du Bourget) is a trade fair and air show held in odd years at Paris–Le Bourget Airport in north Paris, France. Organized by the French ...
in 2009.
Variants
;C.450 : (one built)
;C.460 : (three built)
;C.461 : (two built)
Specifications (C.460)
References
Bibliography
*
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{{Caudron aircraft
Racing aircraft
1930s French sport aircraft
C.460
Single-engined tractor aircraft
Low-wing aircraft
Aircraft first flown in 1934