Bloch 150: “If it looks wrong,….”

Marcel Dassault was well-known for his beauty obsession -he even ordered to change the Mirage 2000 prototype fin because he thought it was too “laide.”  He was not always like that. Marcel was still called “Bloch” -he changed to “Dassault” after WW2-, when some seriously ugly aircraft came out of his factory. The Bloch 150 is one of the worse, if not the worst. This prototype was just ungainly: with its belly too close to ground, short landing gear struts and its propeller tips dangerous close to ground. No surprises then when, according to some sources, the Bloch 150 refused to leave the ground in its first attempted take-off (July 1936). It was ten months later when this “thing” made its maiden flight…, barely. After some indifferent flights the 150 was rebuilt with, among other things, a new wing and a lengthened and angled undercarriage. Still a mediocrity, the Nazi Germany’s menace was its lifesaver: France needed all the fighters she could get. Rethought by a team lead by Lucien Servanty the 150 evolved into the easier to manufacture Bloch 151 -a second-rate fighter anyway.

Depicted here the rebuilt Bloch 150, at first, it looked even worse.

Potez 53: Le Vainqueur Prend Tout.

Absolutely “Superbe” racer designed to take part in the 1933 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe. This slick retractable undercarriage monoplane powered by a household supercharger engine, the Potez 9B 9-cylinder radial. Number 10 won the competition at the hands of Georges Détré…. the happy celebration here.
Refined models of the Potez 53 -one of them a re-worked original- took part the next year at the Coupe Deutsch, but they failed to finish the race.
Gladly this pretty jewel is still with us lovely preserved in the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace.

Photo: Dominique Pascal collection.

Santos-Dumont No 19bis: Très Très Chic .

The Demosiselle was,after his No 14bis, Santos’ most famous aircraft design. The 19 and this 19bis of 1907 were Demoiselle’s inmediate ancestors -both were initially named the “Libellule”, the Demoiselle sobriquet was adopted later. The original No 19 monoplane -his first- proved quite unsatisfactory so Santos improved the model with his “bis”. The engine and propeller were changed; the former was lowered a placed between the pilots legs, from there the 24hp Antoinette engine drove the wing mounted Tatin propeller through a wide belt and a pair huge pulley wheels.The wing was enlarged also and those bizarre hexagonal surfaces removed. No one of these changes improved the model.

As with his previous airships Santos used his lovely monoplanes as personal transports, precursors of nowadays light civil aeroplanes. Depicted here the always natty Brazilian carring in his Renault truck the conveniently folded No 19bis.

The No 14bis: :https://elpoderdelasgalaxias.wordpress.com/2014/03/20/santos-dumont-14-14bis-spreading-gently-the-wings/

Nieuport 24 bis: Death with Dragonflies.

The 24 bis was another variation in the long line of sesquiplanes built by the Nieuport company during the Great War. Sadly, by the time the 24 entered service the hours of that kind of Nieuport fighters were counted. By then the French preferred the SPAD fighters; stronger and faster aircraft powered by the superlative Hispano engine.
The Russians were regular employers of French aircraft (both imported and licence-built) during WW1, and especially of Nieuport’s products. The Soviets continued to build and use them during the gruesome Russian Civil War.

Simply breathtaking the artwork of this -according to the source- 15th recon squadron’s 24 bis. The French influence is also quite evident here in that “Roold” safety helmet type employed by the pilot.

Maizena’s Autobus Volant: Two of my Weaknesses Here.

I have a confession to make here: when I was a kid I used to “steal” some of my little sisters’ Maizena.

Blériot XI: Eponymous…almost (II).

Lovely poster of the 1909 historic Doncaster Air Races. Obvious presence of the XI here; Louis Blériot’s historic Channel Crossing that year put this seminal monoplane in the collective consciousness. Incidentally -or not- the great Leon Delagrange with his Gnome-powered XI flew a lap around course claimed, arbitrarily, to be a world’s speed record.

Breguet Bre 470T Fulgur: Too much horses… for so few rides.

Designed employing the wing design of the household Vultur bomber, the Fulgur was one of the fastest airliner of the 30’s. With that speed in mind it was employed in two of theclassic air races of that era: the 1936 Paris-Saigon and the 1937 Istres-Damascus-Paris. The Fulgur achieved meagre results in both: a retirement and a fifth.
Just as unsuccessful as its wing-donor,the 470T was a not very profitable airliner -not wise to need a pair of +900hp Gnome-Rhône 14K or N to carry only 12 passengers. Only the unique prototype was built. Like in another similar cases in the late 30’s it ended its days flying with the aircraft-hungry Spanish Republic during the Spanish Guerra Civil.

Precious document of its departure on the 1936 Paris-Saigon race, the Great Michel Détroyat at the helm.

Photo: Keystone-France/Gamma-Keystone (Getty Images)

Nieuport 28: Cute & Profitable.

Even if Gustave Delage’s Nieuport 28 wasn’t a world-class fighter it achieved its little place in the Sun. It was an elegant -if structurally flawed- fighter that, as we can see, could conveniently be transported. The Swiss acquired 15 of these cute Nieuports  postwar and used them until 1930, not a bad bargain.

SNCASO-ONERA Deltaviex: The Non-Delta.

Joli petit jet built in the early 50’s by SNCASO for the French ONERA (Office National d’Etudes et de Recherches Aérospatiales) as a testbed for various supersonic-flight related experimental trials. The main objetive of its conceivers was the search of a new roll stability system -as an alternative for ailerons. With that in mind, the Deltaviex was equiped with a highly-swept (70º) “blowed” wing where a small amount of thrust of its little Marbore jet engine was used to increase lift in the inner part of the wing (it also had ailerons though).
First flown in 1954 this cutie underwent its tests in relative secret. Nothing was said about it until a press presentation two years later,in 1956 (a photo of the event here).

The Deltaviex is somehow “famous” because during its operational life it was equiped with 3 different types of cockpit canopies. The one in this pic is the latest, and the more conventional looking.

Potez 542: L’espoir wasn’t enough (II).

Superb, and lovely vintage, photo of a Potez’s belly gunner “in action” during the Spanish Guerra Civil. He is handling, if I’m not mistaken, a Vickers K gas-operated MG.