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''Société Astra des Constructions Aéronautiques'' was a major French manufacturer of balloons, airships, and aeroplanes in the early 20th century. It was founded in Airship and Balloon News
''Flight'' workshops at Billancourt. Its most significant products were the
The Pioneers: An Anthology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Astra Defunct aircraft manufacturers of France Manufacturing companies established in 1908 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1921 Defunct companies of France 1908 establishments in France 1921 disestablishments in France
''Société Astra des Constructions Aéronautiques'' was a major French manufacturer of balloons, airships, and aeroplanes in the early 20th century. It was founded in 1908
Events
January
* January 1 – The British ''Nimrod'' Expedition led by Ernest Shackleton sets sail from New Zealand on the ''Nimrod'' for Antarctica.
* January 3 – A total solar eclipse is visible in the Pacific Ocean, and is the 46 ...
when Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe (; 25 September 1846 – 24 November 1919), born Salomon Henry Deutsch, was a successful French petroleum businessman (known as the "Oil King of Europe"Howard, Fred, ''Wilbur & Orville: A Biography'', Dover Publicati ...
purchased Édouard Surcouf
Édouard Surcouf (1862–1938) was a French engineer, maker and pilot of dirigibles, and industrialist.
Biography
Astra triplane, participant at the military concours d'aviation, 1911
Édouard Surcouf, an aeronautics enthusiast from an ear ...
's''Flight'' workshops at Billancourt. Its most significant products were the
Astra-Torres airship
The Astra-Torres airships were non-rigid airships built by Société Astra in France between about 1908 and 1922 to a design by the Spaniard Leonardo Torres Quevedo. They had a highly-characteristic tri-lobed cross-section rather than the more us ...
s, but beginning in 1909
Events
January–February
* January 4 – Explorer Aeneas Mackintosh of the Imperial Trans-Antarctic Expedition escaped death by fleeing across ice floes.
* January 7 – Colombia recognizes the independence of Panama.
* Januar ...
, the firm also produced Wright brothers heavier-than-air designs under licence. In 1912
Events January
* January 1 – The Republic of China (1912–49), Republic of China is established.
* January 5 – The Prague Conference (6th All-Russian Conference of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party) opens.
* January 6 ...
, these were supplanted by Astra's own designs, the Astra C and CM.
Astra Clément-Bayard
Astra Clément-Bayard Astra Clément-Bayard was a French manufacturer of dirigibles.
In 1908 the French industrialist Adolphe Clément-Bayard, who had already made a fortune manufacturing cars, motorcycles and bicycles, diversified into the aviation industry. His fir ...
was established in 1908 by Astra and French industrialist Adolphe Clément-Bayard
Gustave Adolphe Clément, from 1909 Clément-Bayard (22 September 1855 – 10 March 1928), was a French entrepreneur. An orphan who became a blacksmith and a ''Compagnons du Tour de France, Compagnon du Tour de France'', he went on to race and m ...
, to manufacture airships
An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air Powered aircraft, under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding a ...
at a new factory in La Motte-Breuil in response to a French Army decision to commence airship operations. Astra provided the envelope and Clément-Bayard
Clément-Bayard, Bayard-Clément, was a French manufacturer of automobiles, aeroplanes and airships founded in 1903 by entrepreneur Gustave Adolphe Clément. Clément obtained consent from the Conseil d'Etat to change his name to that of his b ...
provided the gondola and engine.
The Clément-Bayard No.1 airship was offered to the French government but was rejected as too expensive so it was bought by Tsar Nicholas II
Nicholas II or Nikolai II Alexandrovich Romanov; spelled in pre-revolutionary script. ( 186817 July 1918), known in the Russian Orthodox Church as Saint Nicholas the Passion-Bearer,. was the last Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Polan ...
for the Russian army.
Demise
In1921
Events
January
* January 2
** The Association football club Cruzeiro Esporte Clube, from Belo Horizonte, is founded as the multi-sports club Palestra Italia by Italian expatriates in First Brazilian Republic, Brazil.
** The Spanish lin ...
, the firm was absorbed by Nieuport
Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars.
History
Beginnings
Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...
.
References
*The Pioneers: An Anthology
{{DEFAULTSORT:Societe Astra Defunct aircraft manufacturers of France Manufacturing companies established in 1908 Manufacturing companies disestablished in 1921 Defunct companies of France 1908 establishments in France 1921 disestablishments in France