Édouard Surcouf
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Édouard Surcouf (1862–1938) was a French engineer, maker and pilot of
dirigible An airship, dirigible balloon or dirigible is a type of aerostat ( lighter-than-air) aircraft that can navigate through the air flying under its own power. Aerostats use buoyancy from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding ...
s, and industrialist.


Biography

Astra triplane, participant at the military concours d'aviation, 1911 Édouard Surcouf, an aeronautics enthusiast from an early age, made his first flight in a hot-air balloon in 1879 at the age of 17. The following year, 1880, he started as an apprentice at the "Grands Ateliers Aérostatiques du Champ-de-Mars", the biggest aeronautic manufacturer at the end of the 19th century. He collaborated with engineers Eugène Godard, his brother Louis Godard and Gabriel Yon. In 1889 he was named president of the School of Aeronautics. With Gabriel Yon he published a reference work, ''Aérostats et aérostation militaire à l'Exposition universelle de 1889'' (éditions Bernard et Cie., Paris, 1889). Surcouf married Marie Surcouf who became the first French woman to gain her sporting pilot's license. She later set up Aéroclub féminin la Stella, a women's ballooning organisation. In 1889 he became the successor to his godfather (see ''Urania'', a balloon made by the Ateliers Surcouf, Crystal Palace 1889) ''Urania'', a balloon made by the Ateliers Surcouf - See the aerial acrobat Leona Dare, flying beneath a balloon in 1887 at the
Crystal Palace, London Crystal Palace is an area in South London, named after the Crystal Palace Exhibition building which stood in the area from 1854, until it was destroyed by a fire in 1936. About southeast of Charing Cross, it includes one of the highest poin ...
. See Leona Dare
This new company would be a pioneer in the introduction of rubberised fabric for the construction of envelopes of dirigibles. He continued Gabriel Yon's enterprise in providing equipment for the Spanish Army. On 27 July 1900 he was appointed Technical Instructor at the first Swiss military aérostiers training school in Geneva. In 1902 Surcouf built his first dirigible, ''Lebaudy I'', for the brothers Paul and Pierre Lebaudy (see :fr:famille Lebaudy), designed by :fr:Henri Julliot and nicknamed "le Jaune" ('Yellow'). The '' :fr:Le Lebaudy (dirigeable)'' was a hydrogen-filled, cigar-shaped airship pointed or thinning at the sides, long, powered by a engine with a propellers on each side."Le Raid du Lebaudy"
''Lecture pour tous'', October 1904. Aero-mondo.fr (in French).
In 1904 the industrialist Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe ordered the dirigible ''Le Ville de Paris'', which had a bad accident during its inaugural flight in December 1904. It was rebuilt, and ''Le Ville de Paris'' flew again in 1906. Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe joined with Surcouf in 1908 to found the Société Astra (Société Astra de constructions aéronautiques). This new company increased production, making
Wright brothers The Wright brothers, Orville Wright (August 19, 1871 – January 30, 1948) and Wilbur Wright (April 16, 1867 – May 30, 1912), were American aviation List of aviation pioneers, pioneers generally credited with inventing, building, and flyin ...
aircraft under licence and their own models such as the CM. The firm also made dirigibles, notably at
Meaux Meaux () is a Communes of France, commune on the river Marne (river), Marne in the Seine-et-Marne Departments of France, department in the ÃŽle-de-France Regions of France, region in the Functional area (France), metropolitan area of Paris, Franc ...
and at the industrial site of
Boulogne-Billancourt Boulogne-Billancourt (; often colloquially called simply Boulogne, until 1924 Boulogne-sur-Seine, ) is a wealthy and prestigious Communes of France, commune in the western suburbs of Paris, France, located from the Kilometre zero, centre of Paris ...
. Surcouf surrounded himself with aeronautical engineers, among which :fr:Henry Kapférer would become the administrator of this new industrial firm. New dirigibles appeared: ;1909 : ''Ville de Nancy'' (Astra III) : '' Clément Bayard'' (Astra IV) : ''Colonel Renard'' (Astra V) : ''l'Espagne'' (''España'') (Astra VI) : ''Ville de Pau-Ville de Lucerne'' (Astra VII) Frédéric Airault, technical director of Compagnie générale transaérienne (later
Air France Air France (; legally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France, and is headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. The airline is a subsidiary of the Air France-KLM Group and is one of the founding members ...
), was associated with Astra from 1909. He skilfully avoided a disaster while flying in ''l'Espagne'' (VI), and piloted ''Ville de Lucerne'' (VII) on commercial flights in Switzerland in 1910 as Transaérienne's chief pilot. ;1910 : ''Ville de Bruxelles'' (Astra VIII) : ''Ville de Pau'' (Astra IX) : ''Lieutenant Chaura'' (Astra X) : ''Adjudant Réau'' (Astra XI) - made a record-breaking round flight of 850 km from Paris to the German border and back, piloted by Surcouf. : ''Éclaireur Conté'' (Astra XII), : (Astra XIII) On 6 July 1911 Surcouf inaugurated the l'Institut aérotechnique de Saint-Cyr, affiliated with the
University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...
. De la Meurthe bought the Société Générale d'Aéro-Locomotion Deplante-Nieuport when Édouard N. died in 1911, renaming it the Société Anonyme des Établissements Nieuport. From 1911 Surcouf collaborated with the Spanish engineer
Leonardo Torres Quevedo Leonardo Torres Quevedo (; 28 December 1852 – 18 December 1936) was a Spanish civil engineer, mathematician and inventor, known for his numerous engineering innovations, including Aerial tramway, aerial trams, airships, catamarans, and remote ...
on a new non-rigid dirigible in the Issy-les-Moulineaux works. Their ''
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.Francisco A. González Redond''Leonardo Torres Quevedo, 1902-1908. The Foundatio ...
'' was much faster with better performance than previous airships. Other Astra-Torres dirigibles followed, including the ''Pilâtre de Rozier'' (Astra-Torres XV) named after the aerostier
Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier Jean-François Pilâtre de Rozier () (30 March 1754 – 15 June 1785) was a French chemistry and physics teacher, and one of the first pioneers of aviation. He made the first manned free balloon flight with François Laurent d'Arlandes on 21 Nov ...
, which at 23,000 m3 was the same size as a
Zeppelin A Zeppelin is a type of rigid airship named after the German inventor Ferdinand von Zeppelin () who pioneered rigid airship development at the beginning of the 20th century. Zeppelin's notions were first formulated in 1874Eckener 1938, pp. 155â ...
. On 18/19 September 1911 Surcouf piloted the ''Adjutant Reau'' (Astra XI) on a record-breaking non-stop round flight of 850 km from Paris ( Issy-les-Moulineaux) - Chalons - Verdun - Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle) -Epinal - Versoul - Troyes -Paris. During
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
Surcouf's firms supplied war material. After the Great War, the company continued to produce dirigibles. In 1919 Henri de la Meurthe died. The Astra company merged with Nieuport to form Astra-Nieuport. In 1923 he retired from the company in favour of Gustave Delage.


Partial list of publications

* ''Aérostats et aérostation militaire. Marine et arts militaires'', Paris, Bernard et compagnie, 1889 (with Gabriel Yon) — Extrait de la « Revue technique de l'Exposition universelle de 1889 »
''L'aéronautique militaire''
1910 * ''Les aéroplanes marins (hydroaéroplanes)'', 1913


References

;Notes ;Citations ;Sources * *


External links


Création de la première compagnie d'aérostiers suisses.

Les dirigeables Astra-Torres
{{DEFAULTSORT:Surcouf, Edouard French industrialists Airship aviators 1862 births 1938 deaths Balloon flight record holders French aviation record holders