René Arnoux (aircraft designer)

Arnoux Stablavion 1913

Arnoux Stabloplan 1914

Arnoux HD14 sans cue

Arnoux Simplex 1922

René Arnoux was a French aircraft designer. He was the first aviation pioneer to build single flying wings with an inherently stable S-flap profile . Little is known about his life, only newspaper articles with photos of his flying machines exist.

history

In addition to the Austrian Ignaz “Igo” Etrich and John William Dunne ( swept wing Dunne type ) and the painter and aviation pioneer José Weiss , who lives in England , he was one of the first to deal with tailless aircraft.

He built his first aircraft, a tailless biplane, as early as 1909. This was followed by other tailless models in monoplane construction, all of which had elevons throughout .

• The first Stabloplan was built in 1912.
• The "Stablavion" from 1913 had a fin under the fuselage and a water-cooled four-cylinder engine with a tension screw. The seats were arranged one behind the other.
• The final version of the "Stabloplan" from 1914 had two primitive winglets and a rotary motor with a pressure screw. The seats were arranged side by side.
• After the First World War, Arnoux went straight back to work and in the early 1920s converted a normal Hanriot HD.14 double-decker into a tailless version called the HD.14 sans Qeueu . For this, the inner wing ribs were shortened and then a continuous control flap was installed. The rear fuselage was also detached and replaced by a triangular fin. The 80 hp engine was retained.
• Arnoux's last model was the “Simplex” racing plane, which was powered by a 320 hp Hispano-Suiza 8Fb engine. The engine's typical barrel radiator was installed in front of the pilot, who was sitting in the extension of the fin. The machine was designed for the air race Coupe Deutsch and was flown by the famous fighter pilot Georges Madon.

Arnoux then became an employee of Charles Fauvel , who named one of his two-seaters of the type AV22 with the name René Arnoux in his honor.

literature

• Leonard E. Opdycke: French Airplanes Before the Great War. Schiffer Publishing, ISBN 978-0-7643-0752-2
• Monthly magazine L 'Aérophile , January 15, 1913, page 35.
• Rudolf Storck among others: Flying Wings. The historical development of the world's tailless and flying wing aircraft. Bernard and Graefe, Bonn 2003, ISBN 3-7637-6242-6 .

Web links

• René Arnoux website with newspaper articles in French.
• Website with more pictures