Gastambide-Mengin monoplane

The Gastambide-Mengin monoplane (later Gastambide-Mengin I, Gastambide-Mengin II and Antoinette II) was an early French experimental aircraft designed by Leon Levavasseur and was the first aircraft built by the Antoinette company.^[1] The name came from Jules Gastambide who financed the company and Gabriel Mengin, the aircraft engineer.^[2]

Design and development

The monoplane (later known as the Gastambide-Mengin I) was powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Antoinette piston engine driving a tractor propeller.^[1] It was noted for having a complex quadricycle landing gear.^[1] The monoplane made four flights between 8 and 14 February 1908 flown by a mechanic named Boyer, the furthest being a flight of 150m.^[1] After these flights the aircraft was rebuilt between February and August 1908 as the Gastambide-Mengin II (later named the Antoinette II), the modifications including revised, trailing edge-hinged triangular ailerons.^[1] The modified aircraft made three short flights in August 1908, one of these on 21 August 1908 being the first circle flown by a monoplane, and on a flight the previous day (20 August 1908) Robert Gastambide became the first passenger flown in a monoplane.^[1] With lessons learnt from the design Levavasseur went on to design a family of monoplanes named after Antoinette Gastambide, the daughter of Jules Gastambide.^[1]

Specifications

Data from ^[1][2]

General characteristics

• Crew: one
• Length: 7.9 m (25 ft 11 in)
• Wingspan: 10 m (32 ft 10 in)
• Wing area: 24 m² (260 sq ft)
• Max takeoff weight: 350 kg (772 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Antoinette 8V V-8 water-cooled piston engine, 37 kW (50 hp)
• Propellers: 2-bladed Levavasseur paddle bladed propeller

References

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Antoinette aircraft.

Notes

Bibliography