Antoinette Monobloc
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The Antoinette military monoplane, also known as the Antoinette Monobloc or the Antoinette-Latham was an early 3-seat
monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
built in
France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...
in 1911 by the Antoinette company in the hope of attracting orders from the French military. It featured a futuristic and aerodynamic design with innovative elements that were ahead of its time, including unbraced
cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
wings, an enclosed fuselage and wheel fairings, and an engine with steam cooling and direct fuel injection. However, due to an under-powered engine, it was barely able to fly and failed to attract orders.


Design


Aerodynamic streamlining

Designed by
Léon Levavasseur Léon Levavasseur (8 January 1863 – 26 February 1922) was a French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and liquid engine cooling. Primarily associated with th ...
and Jules Gastambide, and baptized with the name "Monobloc", the aircraft featured a number of innovative aerodynamic refinements for its time. The design was characterized by an enclosed and
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d body and wings. The design reduced air resistance by the absence of any external bracing wires, and by having its control cables totally enclosed within its quadrangular-section fuselage and large wooden
cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is supported at only one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a canti ...
wings.


Wings

The wooden wings were 70 cm thick at the base and 25 cm at the ends, with internal bracing and built around four square steel
spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...
. The main spar was 70 cm high and fixed at the front third of the wing; the others (i fore, 2 aft) hinged in the middle of their axes, allowing the wings to '
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' to provide lateral control of the machine. These were controlled by the pilot by a distortable frame which could be pushed for-and-aft or side-to-side for controlling the wing warping. The spars were supported by ribs spaced 40 cm apart; the wings, fully loaded, were designed to bear about 25 kg per m2 — when the current aircraft of the time only were designed to bear 15 kg/m2. The
chord Chord may refer to: * Chord (music), an aggregate of musical pitches sounded simultaneously ** Guitar chord a chord played on a guitar, which has a particular tuning * Chord (geometry), a line segment joining two points on a curve * Chord ( ...
of each wing was 4 metres at the junction with the fuselage, and decreased to 3 metres at the wing tip. The upper side of the wing's
airfoil An airfoil (American English) or aerofoil (British English) is the cross-sectional shape of an object whose motion through a gas is capable of generating significant lift, such as a wing, a sail, or the blades of propeller, rotor, or turbine. ...
was cambered, while the under side was very flat, with the
leading In typography, leading ( ) is the space between adjacent lines of type; the exact definition varies. In hand typesetting, leading is the thin strips of lead (or aluminium) that were inserted between lines of type in the composing stick to incre ...
and trailing edges being quite sharp. The
tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...
included a long, low fin and a large rectangular rudder that could be enlarged by an extension.


Fuselage

The streamlined fuselage was decked over with wood frames and tight canvas, with only the cylinder-head of the engine exposed. The fuselage terminated at the front by a bow shaped like that of a boat. The crew compartment had three seats lined up and was closed, so access was through a door under the fuselage. Seated at the front was the mechanic, who had easy direct access to the engine at the front. Behind him, the pilot had a good range of vision, with windows in the floor enabling him to see beneath him. An observer sat behind the pilot in the rear.


Wheel fairings

The enclosure of the aircraft's fixed
landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...
by streamlined fairings or "spats" was viewed as a remarkable innovation in 1911. Each fairing consisted of a canvas-covered structure containing a large double main wheel on a flexibly sprung axle, and a smaller wheel placed forward to avoid nose-overs on landing. A similar arrangement was used by the Coandă 1911 twin-Gnôme engine monoplane.


Engine

Acting as a radiator, a network of copper tubes running along the fuselage cooled the
Antoinette 8V The Antoinette 8V was an early French eight-cylinder, liquid-cooled, V engine, the first series production gasoline-fueled, spark plug ignition engine of any kind produced with manifold injection. It was typically rated at . First produced in ...
engine of 50 to 60 hp (according to different sources). For the 1911 military contest at Reims in September-October 1911 a larger V12 engine of 100 hp was fitted. This was cooled by steam — heated water evaporated in the cylinder jackets and then condensed in copper tubing attached to the outside of the aircraft. The engine had two valves per cylinder, a mechanically operated exhaust valve and an automatic inlet valve. Instead of a carburetor, two fuel pumps delivered fuel to the inlet valve chambers. A larger engine of V16 configuration and 120 hp was planned, but this may not have been possible due to limited space between the engine and the crew's entry hatch located underneath the fuselage.


Reims French Army military trials 1911

The aircraft was exhibited at '' Le Grand Concours d'Aviation Militaire'' at
Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...
in September 1911 in the hope of attracting orders from the French military. Organized by the French Army, this competition required that the aircraft and engines be fully built in France, and be able to fly without stop on a closed circuit of 300 km with a 300 kg load (not including oil, water and fuel) at a speed of more than 60 km/h. Additionally, they were to be 3-seaters, and be able to take-off and land from unprepared surfaces. The first prize was 700,000 francs plus additional sums for increases in speed over 60 km/h, as well as a commitment by the military to purchase 10 aircraft. The competition attracted the major French aircraft manufacturers of the time, including Blériot, Farman, Deperdussin and Nieuport. Despite the fitting of a more powerful V12 engine of 100 hp and a smaller 16 litre fuel tank, Antoinette's Monobloc entry was under-powered and, though it may have managed a short hop of several metres, it was unable to successfully fly. It failed to attract any orders, and following this setback, the Antoinette company soon went into bankruptcy.


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. The ...
*
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 as ...
*
Antoinette VII The Antoinette VII was an early French aircraft, flown in 1909. History The VII was a further development of the Antoinette IV, with increased engine power and using a wing warping system implemented by Levavasseur for the Antoinette V in plac ...
*
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 failure ...
, designer of a similar aircraft, 1910


References


Further reading

* {{Antoinette aircraft and aero engines
Monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...
Single-engined tractor aircraft 1910s French experimental aircraft Low-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1911