Dufaux 5
| Dufaux 5 | |
|---|---|
 The «Dufaux 5», sectional drawing |
|
| Type: | |
| Design country: | |
| Manufacturer: |
Armand and Henri Dufaux |
| First flight: |
December 1910 |
| Commissioning: |
January 1911 |
| Production time: |
probably October 1910–1912 |
| Number of pieces: |
≈ 15 |
The Dufaux 5 is a two-seat aircraft from the French - Swiss aviation pioneers Henri and Armand Dufaux .
Construction and development
After Armand Dufaux had flown over the entire length of Lake Geneva in the Dufaux 4 on August 28, 1910 and clearly surpassed the world record set by Louis Blériot , he and his brother Henri aroused enormous interest, not only among aviation enthusiasts with the first aircraft produced in Switzerland for powered flight. In the months after the record flight of August 28, 1910, the Dufaux brothers undertook numerous other flights and participated with other aviation pioneers - including Pierre Emile Taddéoli (1879–1920), flying boat pioneer and chief pilot of the later Ad Astra Aero until 1920 - at flight meetings that took them to the USA. They had already received an impressive number of orders for those days that they intended to fulfill with the successor to their experimental aircraft.
The Dufaux 4 record-breaking aircraft was probably also judged by its designers to be insufficiently efficient, and it only offered space for the pilot. The Dufaux 5 was designed as a double-decker by the Dufaux brothers . The Dufaux 5 was based on the experiences with the Dufaux 4 as well as the unnamed model 2 with eight wings and a three-decker built by the brothers (model 3). The supporting structure of the Dufaux 4 was essentially a seat for a passenger and extends Anzani- aircraft engine through the 91 kg heavy and powerful for that time seven-cylinder - rotary engine Gnôme replaced 70 at 1200 / min 53 kW ( 70 hp). Otherwise, the aircraft differed little from comparable designs - two wings, triangular fuselage cross-section - from the pioneering years of motorized aviation. The load-bearing structure of the Dufaux 4 seems to have remained unchanged with the same overall length, wingspan and height, with a simultaneous increase in performance despite the increased takeoff weight. The previous two ailerons between the wings were replaced by four, which, as in today's designs, were arranged at the rear end of the wings.
use
The biplane was constructed from December 1910 at the Mégevet company in Corsier (this is where the Dufaux brothers had made their first flight attempts), where series production took place according to the standards of the time - at least three aircraft were produced at the same time, as can be seen in a contemporary photo. The total number of aircraft produced needs clarification, but should be at least 15 copies (including 4 Dufaux).
The Swiss military had already rejected the use of the Dufaux 4 in May 1910 because those responsible found it unsuitable for military use. Ernest Failloubaz (1892-1919) - at the age of 19 the youngest pilot in Switzerland at the time - presented the now significantly improved Dufaux 5 to the army command from September 4 to 6, 1911 by observing the maneuvers with his friend Gustave Lecoultre of the 1st Army Corps flew reconnaissance missions. Despite a crash landing on the last day of the three-day mission, these flights mark the beginning of Swiss military aviation .
The Dufaux was used, among other things, from October 1911 at the flight school founded by Emile Taddéoli in Viry near Geneva. Ernest Failloubaz was probably the first owner of a Dufaux 5: he ordered a Dufaux 5 for the aviation school in Avenches in November 1910, with which he carried out a test flight in the presence of Armand Dufaux in the first half of January 1911, followed by an unknown number Passenger flights. Armand Dufaux attended the flight meeting in Viry from April 16 to 18, where he demonstrated the aircraft to interested parties. There is evidence of a flight demonstration by Emile Taddéoli in Annecy , where he crashed into Lake Geneva in June without causing damage to man or machine and the flight demonstrations continued in July 1911. From this point onwards, aircraft production was probably stopped by the Dufaux brothers; three Dufaux aircraft were probably produced in Avenches in autumn 1911.
The owners of a Dufaux 5 known by name included Armand Dufaux, Emili Taddéoli, Ernest Failloubaz, François Durafour (1888–1967), Cobioni and Beck. Charles Girod, Georges Cailler, Gustave Lecoultre, Hollinger, Beck and Knutti received flight lessons from its chief pilot Durafour in the course of 1911 at the Avenches flight school. The model was probably used in the school in Failloubaz until at least 1916.
Technical specifications
| Parameter | Dufaux 5 | Dufaux 4 |
| crew | Pilot and passenger | pilot |
| length | 9.5 m | 9.5 m |
| Wingspan | 8.5 m | 8.5 m |
| Wing area | 24.0 m² | 24.0 m² |
| height | 2.7 m | 2.7 m |
| Empty mass | 340 kg | 180 kg |
| Max. Takeoff mass | 555 kg | 320 kg |
| Wing loading | 23 kg / m² | |
| drive | a Gnôme rotary engine with 53 kW (70 HP) | Anzani engine with 19 kW (25 PS) |
| Start speed | 42 km / h | |
| Top speed | 84 km / h | 60 km / h |
| Initial increase in power | 0.3 m / s | |
| Service ceiling | 600 m | 500 m |
| Range | 60 km (1 hour flight) | ≈ 66 km (32 flight minutes) |
Variants and whereabouts
As an alternative to the Gnõme rotary engines, four-cylinder aircraft engines from Oerlikon were also used. All that is currently known is the whereabouts of the Dufaux 4 on display in the Museum of Transport , the oldest surviving Swiss aircraft.
See also
literature
- Michael JH Taylor: Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. P. 347, Studio Editions, London 1989.
Web links
- The Dufaux 5 in pionnair-ge (French)
- Henri and Armand Dufaux in pionnair-ge (French)
Individual evidence
- ↑ a b Armand Dufaux 'record flight of August 28, 1910 on pionnair-ge with a detailed description and photos (French)
- ↑ Pierre Emile Taddéoli in pionnair-ge (French)
- ↑ The «Dufaux 4» on pionnair-ge with information and photos (French)
- ^ Official website of the Swiss Air Force: The first Swiss military flight ( Memento from August 14, 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on December 24, 2008
- ↑ François Durafour ge pionnair-on (French)
- ^ The Virtual Aviation Museum: Dufaux 5 ( Memento from December 18, 2003 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on January 9, 2009
- ↑ The “Dufaux 4” in the Verkehrshaus Luzern ( memento from 7 July 2011 in the Internet Archive ), accessed on 23 December 2008