Gabriel Voisin - Early Flying Experiments

Early Flying Experiments

After completing his studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts de Lyon in 1899 he joined an architectural firm in Paris. Here he saw the Clément Ader Avion III, which was displayed at the Paris International Exposition of 1900. This awakened an interest in the problems of powered flight. After nine months of military service, in February 1904 he attended a lecture given by Captain Ferdinand Ferber, one of the leading figures in French aviation circles at the time. After the lecture Voisin approached Ferber and was given an introduction to Ernest Archdeacon, the leading promoter and financial supporter of early French aviation, and Archdeacon hired him to test fly the Wright-type glider that he had had built. The tests took place at Berck-sur-Mer in April 1904, and some short flights of around 20 m (66 ft) were achieved. Archdeacon then commissioned Voisin to build another glider of similar design, but differing in having a fixed horizontal stabiliser behind the wings, in addition to its front-mounted elevator. This was tested at Issy-les-Moulineaux on 26 March 1905 by towing it into the air using Archdeacon's automobile. Fortunately the test was unmanned, the pilot's place being taken by 50 kg (110 lb) of ballast: the aircraft suffered a structural failure and crashed. It was not rebuilt.

Voisin then designed and built a glider equipped with floats for Archdeacon. This aircraft marks the first use of Hargrave cells, used both for the empennage and the wings. Voisin successfully flew it on 8 June 1905, having been towed into the air behind a motor boat on the river Seine between the Billancourt and Sèvres bridges, managing a flight of about 600 m (2,000 ft). While working on this aircraft Voisin had been approached by Louis Blériot, who asked him to build him a similar machine, later known as the Bleriot II. This differed principally in having a smaller span lower wing, resulting in the outer 'side-curtains' between upper and lower wings being angled outwards. After this first flight Bleriot suggested to Voisin that they form a partnership to build aircraft, and so Voisin ended his association with Archdeacon's syndicate. Voisin attempted flights in both aircraft on 18 July 1905. Although the weather was unsuitable, with a strong crosswind, Voisin decided to attempt to fly the aircraft since it was difficult to obtain the necessary permission to use the river. He made a short flight in his own glider and then attempted a flight in Bleriot's. This took off quickly, but Voisin could not control it and it crashed into the river. Voisin was trapped inside and was lucky to escape drowning. Louis Bleriot's cine footage of this experiment survives in the Smithsonian's National Air & Space Museum.

The next aircraft built by Voisin for Bleriot during 1906, the Bleriot III, was a tandem biplane powered by an Antoinette engine driving two tractor propellers with the wings formed into a closed ellipse as seen from the front: according to Voisin's account, Bleriot had originally wanted the lifting surfaces to be circular in front elevation, having experimented with models of this form, and the adoption of their eventual form was the result of a compromise between the two men. This aircraft was unsuccessful, as was its subsequent modification (the Blériot IV) in which the forward wing was replaced by a conventional biplane arrrangement and a second engine added. Experiments were made first with floats and then with a wheeled undercarriage, and the aircraft was wrecked in a taxying accident at Bagatelle on the morning of 12 November 1906. Later that day, also at Bagatelle, Alberto Santos-Dumont succeeded in flying his 14-bis canard biplane for a distance of over 100 metres. After the failure of this machine Voisin and Blériot dissolved their partnership, and Voisin set up a company with his brother Charles Voisin to design and manufacture aircraft.