Vintage Wings - Picat du Breuil - 1911

*** Vintage Wings ***

Picat du Breuil - 1911

This not well known aircraft was designed by the marquis Picat du Breuil, built in France in 1910 and presented in the Salon de Paris the next year.
Althought the general concept of the aicraft was preety much traditional, the design on the wing was certanly not.
Du Breuil abandoned rigid wing surfaces in favor of a semicircular wing formed with a steel tube leading edge filled with reed, the rest of the surface being formed of a loose piece of fabric.
The whole thing was set at an impressive angle of attack on a steel tube frame above the fuselage, and lacked any provision for lateral control.
The conventional elevator and rudder were comanded from a steering wheel in the cockpit.
Due to the lack of information about the aircraft, there are no records that the model ever flew.

A non-flying replica of this machine was specially made for the 1965 film Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines, piloted by the british character Lieutenant Parsons (Jeremy Lloyd).

*** All aircraft can be seen inworld in my shop ***