| Fabre Hydravion | |
|---|---|
The Hydravion during tests in 1911 | |
| General information | |
| Type | Experimentalfloatplane/Pioneer aircraft |
| Manufacturer | Henri Fabre |
| Owners | Henri Fabre |
| History | |
| First flight | 28 March 1910 |
| Fate | Crashed on 12 April 1911 |
Fabre Hydravion is the name used in English-language sources for an originally unnamed experimentalfloatplane designed byHenri Fabre. The aircraft is notable as the first to take off from water under its own power.
Hydravion (French for seaplane/floatplane) was developed over a period of four years by Fabre, assisted by a former mechanic of CaptainFerdinand Ferber, namedMarius Burdin, andLéon Sebille, a naval architect fromMarseille. Fabre did not initially name his machine, which in contemporary reports was referred to as an "aéroplane marin", but it subsequently came to be referred to in English common usage by the French term for the type of craft.[citation needed]
The aircraft was acanard configuration monoplane whose structure made extensive use of a beam design working as a spanwisespar on its wing panels and forward canard surface, patented by Fabre. This was aWarren truss girder with all members having a streamlined section. Two of these beams, one above the other and connected by three substantial struts, formed the fuselage of the aircraft. The wing, which had pronounceddihedral and whoseleading edge was formed by an exposed Fabre beam, was mounted below the rear of the upper beam, and theGnome Omega rotary engine driving a two-bladedpusher Chauvière propeller was mounted behind it. Additional bracing for the wings was provided bykingposts extending down from the leading edge at mid-span. There were two smallforeplanes, which, like the wing, had exposed Fabre beams forming their leading edges, one mounted above the upper beam and the second on the strut connecting the two beams. A rectangular rear-mounted rudder was situated above the wing: below the wing there was a similar rectangular fixed surface extending down to the lower fuselage beam. The pilot sat astride the upper fuselage beam. The aircraft was equipped with three broad floats: one at the front of the aircraft, the other two mounted on struts extending down from the wing.[1]
It successfully took off and flew for a distance of about 500 metres (1,600 ft) on 28 March 1910 atÉtang de Berre,Martigues,Bouches-du-Rhône, France,[2] being the first seaplane in history.[2] Fabre had no prior flying experience. He flew the floatplane successfully three more times that day and within a week he had flown a distance of 5.6 km (3.5 mi).[2] The aircraft then became badly damaged in an accident.[citation needed]
These experiments were closely followed by aviation pioneersGabriel andCharles Voisin. Eager to construct a seaplane, Voisin purchased several of the Fabre floats and fitted them to theirVoisin Canard.[3]
Hydravion was flown by Jean Bécue[4] at theConcours de Canots Automobiles de Monaco, and crashed there on 12 April 1911, being damaged beyond repair.[5][6] No more Hydravions were built.[citation needed]
Following this experience, Henri Fabre built floats for other aviation pioneers,[citation needed] including (as well as Voisin)Caudron, who built theHydroaéroplane Caudron-Fabre.
The restored example of the aircraft remains - the crashed Hydravion which was collected in 1922 and later restored and displayed by the Musée de l'air et de l'espace (French Air and Space Museum) at Le Bourget (Seine-Saint-Denis),[7] and a replica, close to the location of the initial flight, atMarseille Provence Airport inMarignane (Bouches-du-Rhône).Pegase n°17. March 1980.
Data from Flying boats and Seaplanes[7]
General characteristics
Performance
