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Aviation History
1956
1956 - 0367.PDF
FLIGHT, 30 March 1956 .,' --=; Vuia aeroplane at Issy-les-Moulineoux, 1906. Centre right, Vuia; centre left, bearded, M. Levavasseur, of Antoinette fame. 365 1 Modest Experimenter By BERNARD ORNA Vuias Powered Flights: the Successes of a Little-known Pioneer FIFTY years ago, on March 18th, 1906, at Montesson nearParis, a small aeroplane made a free flight of some fortyfeet after leaving the ground entirely under its own power. It was the first heavier-than-air machine of the kind to do so,and it fulfilled the belief of its pilot, Traian Vuia, a young Rumanian, in plans that had already been taking shape in 1902.Vuia's achievement has been overshadowed by the greater successes of other pioneers, like Santos-Dumont, Bleriot andVoisin, which very soon followed, and it has tended to be for- gotten. Yet in general disposition Vuia's little monoplane set apattern for aircraft to come and set the seal on the fact that a flying machine equipped with wheels could take off from theground direct, and under the power of its engine alone. In this last connection it may be recalled that the Wright brothers atthis epoch were using either an inclined launching rail or a catapulting device for an apparently unavoidable assisted take-off.Traian Vuia was born in a small village in the Lugoj region of the Banat in August 1872. While at secondary school he be-came interested in mechanics and the idea of powered flight. He went to Budapest to study engineering, but financial circum-stances compelled him to abandon this aim in favour of a course in law, so that he might find employment the sooner. His sparetime he devoted to furthering his knowledge of aeronautics, and his designs centred first on a glider of the Lilienthal type witha pedal-driven propeller. As an outcome (he relates in auto- biographical notes) by 1902 a more ambitious project began totake shape—a flying machine with an engine-driven propeller. That year he managed to travel to Paris for purposes of readingand research, where more information was available. He was to remain for two months, but his stay became almost a lifelongone. What he learned convinced him that his tentative plans were worthwhile and that he should do all he could to realizethem. Vuia testing the tractive power of his engine, March 1906. In the discussions on flight then under way, Vuia joined theminority who held that the future lay with heavier-than-air craft, despite the attention that was focused on airships follow-ing the successes of vessels such as those of Lebaudy and Santos- Dumont (which latter readily flew a closed circuit of elevenmiles). He prepared and submitted to the Academy of Sciences in February 1903 a paper which incorporated a description ofwhat he called the "aeroplane-automobile", a light-weight mono- plane that should take off from any normal road surface, fly alongthe course of roads or across country, and be easily piloted. The paper, which is entered in the annals of the Academy, was passedto the Aeronautical Commission—who, with their eyes fixed on airships and, one assumes, a disbelief in the practicability of theaeroplane as a flying machine, pigeon-holed it. Four features of Vuia's project may be noted initially: theaeroplane was wheeled; it was to be powered by an engine and single propeller of the tractive type, at the front (Vuia did notaccept the theory of some that the torque action of one pro- peller would overturn the machine); its ascent and descent wereto be controlled by alteration of the inclination of the wings; and a rudder, at the rear, was to help in horizontal control in theair. Vuia was not discouraged by the indifference of the Aero-nautical Commission. He decided to have a machine built him- self, and the financial help of a number of friends was fortunatelyforthcoming. The aeroplane was constructed at the workshops of Hockenjos and Schmitt, Paris, the two-bladed propeller beingprovided by the pioneer aeronaut and expert Victor Tatin. It was completed towards the end of 1905. A triangular tubularsteel frame, on four wheels with pneumatic tyres, carried fuel tank, motor, controls and bucket seat for pilot. The two wings,mounted on top of the frame and making a single span, had a spread of 21ft and a width of 6Jft, and they could pivot as Vuia'sfirst description had anticipated; based in shape on Lilienthal's "Bat" glider wings, they were of varnished linen and a lighttubular steel and steel wire framework and they could be folded up. Unable to obtain the power unit he required, Vuia resorted todesigning one himself. It was of 25 h.p., and an account in La Nature (2e Semestre, 1906) describes it as being "a Serpollet steamunit, but modified to take carbonic acid, carried in liquid form and then vaporized [which] allows for a useful pressure to beobtained with a very light boiler . . . Burners are refuelled by petrol." La Nature adds "This modified usage of a steam motoris both interesting and original." In the event, Vuia's engine, though very ingenious, proved perhaps the weakest part of hisbold design. The first tests were made, with frame and engine alone, inDecember 1905, when a speed of 25 m.p.h. was attained, and resumed in February 1906. L'Aerophile, organ of the Aero-Clubde France, carried a first account of the machine in that month and commented "It promises well... It may afford an importantcontribution to the solving of the direct take-off . . ." At the time of its assembly and subsequent testing in February, Vuia'saeroplane was examined with interest by several personalities, amongst them Santos-Dumont, then leading aeronaut in France,Archdeacon, president of the Aero-Club, and Victor Tatin. The machine was thus known to those most closely concerned with
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