JF Ptak Science Books Quick Post
Claude Auguste Joseph Givaudan's handiwork was presented in the June 5, 1909 issue of Scientific American as part of a longer article on the history of human heavier-than-air motorized flight. The image is, well, engrossing. It is both pretty and then not so much in a double-ended sausagey kind of way, wanting to look the role of a new age aircraft but winding up looking clunky and breakable and heavily unflyable. The "Vermorel" was a step towards flight, but a step in the not-right direction, though it does seem to be among the first circular wing planes attempted. Sometimes you don't know something is wrong until you know it, and then the information can be useful in the History of Wrong Things. Givaudin (1872-1945) was an excellent candidate for this sort of pioneering work, having an expertise in chemical engineering and machine work in general, working across many fields, not the least of which was making motorized bicycles (motorcycles) at the turn of the century. He just didn't have the proper insight for flying, evidently, though people would return to his circular wing numerous times over the decades.
The barrels fore and aft were fitted with wings that were supposed to catch the wind produced by the 7.8' propeller (which is barely visible up front) and lift the plane into the air. The (air)craft had no rudders and was going to depend on the movable front barrel for control, but at first glance nothing seems to have come of it except for showing others what was not successful. But it seems that there was something that developed: Givaudan seems to have developed among the first (air-cooled) V-8 engines in a plane, which he evidently developed as much as a decade earlier.
It also seems that there is no published record of an attempted flight of this aircraft. He did continue in his aeronautical/aviation work, and was heavily involved with the development of the machine and the science for forty+ years until his death n 1945 (in October, long enough to see the end of WWII).
Here's another version of this image, this one clearer and sharper, from a French photographic postcard of the time. The engine is more distinct here:
[Image source: http://www.cpa-bastille91.com/histoire-de-laviation-en-1909-le-givaudan/]
Givaudin went on to develop another version of the circular wing plane, outfitting it with the following:
[From a Flickr account with a dead link, sorry.]
- For a good description of the aircraft, see the Pioneers of Aviation blog, here: https://av8rblog.wordpress.com/2017/02/21/willss-aviation-card-57-givaudin-ii-triplane/
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