René Moineau (August 11, 1887 – October 5, 1948) was one of the French pioneers of aviation and an inventor in various branches of
aeronautics
Aeronautics is the science or art involved with the study, design process, design, and manufacturing of air flight-capable machines, and the techniques of operating aircraft and rockets within the atmosphere.
While the term originally referred ...
and
fluid mechanics
Fluid mechanics is the branch of physics concerned with the mechanics of fluids (liquids, gases, and plasma (physics), plasmas) and the forces on them.
Originally applied to water (hydromechanics), it found applications in a wide range of discipl ...
. A pilot and engineer at
Bréguet, he designed his own plane, the
Salmson-Moineau SM-1, in 1915, then devoted himself to numerous inventions, several patented, including the
Moineau pump still used in industry, and the first retractable landing gear (for which he filed the patent in 1918).
Biography
The son of Louis Moineau and Marguerite Moitrier, René Joseph Louis Moineau was born in
Lisieux
Lisieux () is a Communes of France, commune in the Calvados (department), Calvados Departments of France, department in the Normandy (administrative region), Normandy Regions of France, region in northwestern France. It is the capital of the Pa ...
on August 11, 1887. The family was originally from
Nièvre
Nièvre () is a department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region, central-east France. Named after the river Nièvre, it had a population of 204,452 in 2019.[Lorraine
Lorraine, also , ; ; Lorrain: ''Louréne''; Lorraine Franconian: ''Lottringe''; ; ; is a cultural and historical region in Eastern France, now located in the administrative region of Grand Est. Its name stems from the medieval kingdom of ...]
. He spent his childhood in
Versailles
The Palace of Versailles ( ; ) is a former royal residence commissioned by King Louis XIV located in Versailles, Yvelines, Versailles, about west of Paris, in the Yvelines, Yvelines Department of Île-de-France, Île-de-France region in Franc ...
, then in
Nancy, where he obtained his science degree in 1906 and the engineering degree from the Institute of Electrotechnics and Mechanics.
From 1909 he built his first biplane gliders, before discovering the free balloon and the hot air balloon; he passed his free balloon pilot's license the same year.
Moineau received his Brevet de pilote (French pilot's licence)- N° 544- in July 1911. In November of that year, he flew for Bréguet in the Concours d'Aviation Militaire de 1911 (
Reims Military Aviation Competition, 1911
The Reims Military Aviation Competition (French: ''Concours militaire d'aviation'') was a military aviation competition held in Reims in October 1911 that was organized by the French Army, with the purpose of trialling the performance of new aircra ...
).
Mobilized in August 1914 as a pilot, he was first assigned to the Bréguet 17 squadron (V103). After a stint at the Camp Retranché in Paris, he served in the SFA (Service des Fabrications de l'Aviation).
In 1916 he joined the
Salmson
Salmson is a French engineering company. Initially a pump manufacturer, it turned to automobile and aeroplane manufacturing in the 20th century,
returning to pump manufacturing in the 1960s, and re-expanded to a number of products and services ...
establishments and designed the
Salmson-Moineau SM-1, an unusual reconnaissance aircraft with its engine placed transversely driving two propellers. Some 150 examples were built.
In 1924, he created his company Avions René Moineau.
He remains best known as the inventor (in 1930) of the
progressive cavity pump, which is still known by his name.
He died in
Brussels
Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...
, Belgium on October 5, 1948.
Bibliography
*Jean-Louis Moineau, René Moineau : aviateur et inventeur, Paris, éd. de l'Officine, 2006, 256 p.
*Henri Cholet, Les pompes à cavités progressantes, Paris, IFP, éditions Technip, 1997.
*Louis Bréguet, Louis Bréguet. Trente ans au service de l'aviation, Blondel la Rougerie, 1938.
*Louis Bréguet, Les avions Louis Bréguet. 1908-1938, (s.d.).
*Charles Dolfuss, Henry Boucher, Histoire de l'aéronautique, L'Illustration, 1942.
*Albert Étévé, Avant les cocardes. Les débuts de l'aviation militaire, Lavauzelle, 1961.
*Albert Etévé, La victoire des cocardes, Robert Laffont, 1970.
*Colonel Désiré Lucca, A. de Baillancourt, Création et débuts du Groupe des Escadrilles de Protection du Camp Retranché de Paris. Le Bourget, octobre 1914-février 1915, Le Puy, Les Arts graphiques, 1969.
*Georges Naudet, L'Aéronautique à la Belle Époque, 1976.
*Edmond Petit, Histoire mondiale de l'aviation, Hachette, 1967.
*Edmond Petit, Nouvelle histoire mondiale de l'aviation, Hachette, 1973.
*Service historique de l'armée de l'air, Les Escadrilles de l'aéronautique militaire française : Synthèse et histoire. 1912-1920.
*Georges Villa, Ailes et eux. Croquis et dessins, 1921.
*Bernard Marck, Dictionnaire universel de l'aviation, Paris, Tallandier, 2005, 1129 p. , p. 728.
*Alain Pelletier, « Salmson-Moineau type 1 », Le Fana de l'Aviation, no 303, February 1995, p. 28-33.
*David Méchin, « Le Salmson-Moineau SM 1. Quand un constructeur manœuvrait mieux que son appareil », Le Fana de l'Aviation, no 597, August 2019, p. 68-78.
References
External links
Historique PCM : De René Moineau (1930) à nos jours''www.pcm-pump.com''
{{DEFAULTSORT:Moineau, René
French aviation pioneers
People from Lisieux
1887 births
1948 deaths