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A QUEST FOR LATERAL CONTROL: THE GOUPY II
EARLIEST AIRCRAFT were on a quest for control, especially laterally, from side to side, in roll. Wing warping was one choice; ailerons were another. Major court cases ensued (for the Wright versus Curtiss melee, see www.wp.me/p2ETap-zA). Others tested novel variations of each theme, with the 1909 Goupy II being a fascinating example. The Blériot Type XI and Curtiss Reims Racer of the same era put the Goupy in perspective.
The 1909 Blériot Type XI exhibited both wing warping and a novel elevator design. This and other images here from my Microsoft Flight Simulator collection.
Louis Blériot was both a traditionalist and innovator. His English-Channel-conquering Type XI was a tractor design (i.e., having a front-mounted propeller) that used wing warping for its lateral control. The open cockpit’s “cloche” (in lieu of a joystick) actuated this warping through a collection of wires above and below the fuselage. Notice as well the Type XI’s split horizontal stabilizer, the outer portions of which were elevators controlling pitch.
The 1909 Curtiss Reims Racer had a traditional pusher layout, but with innovative ailerons.
Glenn Curtiss, as part of Alexander Graham Bell’s Aerial Experiment Association, stayed with the pusher layout, but abjured wing warping in favor of ailerons—separately pivoting wing elements providing lateral control. Unlike others to follow, Curtiss’s stood away from the wings themselves.
The first aeroplane of Frenchmen Ambroise Goupy and Mario Calderara was a Voisin-influenced box-kite design, nothing particularly noteworthy. But their Goupy II, built at Blériot’s workshops in 1909, was full of innovation; some would say downright oddity.
The 1909 Goupy II was particularly innovative, in ways other than its aileron wingtips.
The Goupy II shared the Bléroit Type XI’s tractor layout, open-frame fuselage and castoring landing gear. It was, however, the world’s first biplane of tractor propulsion, with staggered wings as well.
The Goupy II competed in the 1911 Paris-to-Madrid air race.
Most noteworthy were the Goupy’s whole-chord ailerons and elevators, each fully integrated into the tips of these airfoils.
Also of interest was its powerplant, a seven-cylinder R.E.P of “semi-radial” or “open-fan” configuration.
The Goupy’s R.E.P. engine had four cylinders aligned ahead of its remaining three.
Designed by Robert Esnault-Pelterie, this engine was a two-banked radial, with four cylinder aligned fan-like in front and the other three filling in the gaps behind them. Yokes and rods connected the pistons to a two-throw crank.
The seven-cylinder R.E.P. engine. Image from World Encyclopedia of Civil Aircraft, by Enzo Angelucci, Crown Publishers, 1982.
The R.E.P. was air-cooled and produced perhaps 25-30 hp. Esnault-Pelterie built aircraft as well. In fact, one of his Type N monoplanes, serving an observation role, is credited with downing an enemy aircraft on March 2, 1915. The Type N’s observer carried a rifle, took potshots at a German Aviatik, which promptly caught fire.
Robert Esnault-Pelterie, 1881-1957, French aircraft and engine builder, also got involved in early musings of space travel. He evidently knew a really talented portrait photographer as well.
Esnault-Pelterie invented the joystick as a single integrated flight control. After World War I, he defended his patent on the idea; eventually, royalties from the joystick made him wealthy.
An interest in rocketry led Esnault-Pelterie to organize a symposium in 1927 for the French Astronautics Society: The Exploration by Rocketry of Extreme Altitude and the Possibility of Interplanetary Voyages. He’s also credited with the idea of vectored thrust for rocket control—quite a contrast from Esnault-Pelertie’s earliest work with his seven-cylinder R.E.P. open-fan radial. ds
© Dennis Simanaitis, SimanaitisSays.com, 2013
Dennis! Great article. I came across some months ago to a website explaning the cockpit flight controls of early aircraft. Do you know th website? I can’t just find it!!
Hello, Alejandro,
Many thanks for your kind comments.
I have several books on the topic of early flight controls, but I cannot cite any websites on the matter. Is Google of any help?
No Dennis. I found a ‘perfect’ website but have benn ‘impossible’ to retrieve it…
I looked up your Goupy II (I don’t recall having it in my coleection of your planes) but all I find is an FS98 version. It is that correct?
Fianlly found it! http://generalaviationnews.com/2010/01/20/how-do-i-control-this-thing/
The article you found is fascinating. Thanks for your work in searching it out.
My latest Goupy II is an FS9 aircraft.