Experimental Floatplane

[willedoo]

This experimental plane, the Fabre Hydravion or Le Canard is supposed to be the first seaplane to do a water take off under it's own power.

 

It has a Gnome Omega 7 cylinder engine driving a push propeller with a monoplane wing at the rear. At the front it has unequal length biplane surfaces as a stabilizer and elevator.

 

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Designed and flown by French designer, Henri Fabre, the first flight was on 28th March, 1910, for a distance of almost 500 metres, altitude of 2 meters or so.. It's been said that he had no flying experience before that day. It looks dangerous, but he lived to 101 years of age.

 

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It performed a few more flights before being damaged during landing in 1911 and wasn't flown again.

 

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Le Canard survived and is on display at the airport at Marseilles.

 

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Here's a pic of a Gnome Omega at the RAF museum.

 

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Cheers, Willie.

 

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[siznaudin]

Marseilles : now that's interesting, 'cause here's what's in the Le Bourget aviation museum.

 

(or it was in 2007, anyway...)

 

I wonder which one is the replica![ATTACH=full]1302[/ATTACH][ATTACH=full]1303[/ATTACH]

 

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[willedoo]

Checked out a Marseilles-Provence Airport guide & they call theirs a replica. One fairly old reference I found puts the original at Chalais-Meudon, but a lot of stuff was moved from there to Le Bourget from what I can gather, so it must be the real one at the museum.

 

Cheers, Willie.