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Mattos, B.S. the two fliers. In the Summer of 1908, Delagrange went South to Italy in order to demonstrate the art of flying while Farman went North to Belgium. On June 22nd, Delagrange set an endurance record of 18 minutes, 30 seconds at Milan: Farman retaliated with 20 minutes, 20 seconds at Ghent, on July 6th, On September 6th, he flew for 25 km at Issy: Farman bested that with 40 km at Champ de Chalons on October 2nd. Finally, Farman made the logical next step of flying between two places, rather than simply making measured circuits over the safety of an aerodrome. On 1908 October 30, he flew the 27 km from his camp at Bouy to the cavalry ground at Rheims in just under 20 minutes.

The Voisins had built an airplane for Henry Kapferer and then one for Léon Delegrange, in which Gabriel Voisin achieved flight in 1907; they then built an airplane for Henry Farman, which was the first to fly a kilometer circuit, then they built another for Farman, but they sold it to J.T.C Moore-Brabazon. This infuriated Farman so much that he established his own company to compete with Voisin. The first aircraft Farman produced was the Type IIT of 1909. Later, Farman formed the Farman Airlines, which operated the legendary Farman Goliath airliner in the decade of 1920. In 1910, the Voisin company needed a replacement for their famous, but now obsolete, box kite-like standard construction, The box kite was modernized, fitted with ailerons and a simplified tail-unit, and the front elevator was discarded. This model then became the direct progenitor of the Voisin’s World War I bombers. Besides this evolution, one also experienced new types. One of these, which became quite successful, was the Voisin Canard. The first plane of this class was tested in late 1910, and it had been put together from existing parts, the fuselage reportedly coming from an old triplane. It was powered by a 50 hp Rossel-Peugeot rotary engine.

After the World War I, the demand for airplanes plunged. Thus, Gabriel Voisin turned his attention to the automotive world. His brother Charles died in a car accident in 1912. Gabriel had a great deal of technical and engineering expertise but lacked sufficient knowledge of automobile techniques. He started by buying rights to Citroën models, using designs that had undergone testing, rather than starting from scratch. His expertise acquired in the Aviation world helped to design ground vehicles, which are aerodynamic but also light. The only downfall to this formula is that the vehicles were not always visually appealing, which led to poor sales. Most featured aluminum bodies and were scrapped during World War II. In 1929, Gabriel developed the first anti-lock braking systems (ABS).

The first practical airplane

In 1907, Santos-Dumont’s was working in a revolutionary airplane, back to the monoplane configuration as he had dreamed before the flights with 14-bis. It was the airplane that shaped things that would come. The single-engine Demoiselle aircraft (Fig. 11) was Dumont’s final design. The aviator performed a large number of experimentation with Demoiselle, which received successive designations — numbers 19 to 22. The Demoiselle was a groundbreaking experience in terms of construction and configuration. It was produced in different countries, including Germany, France, Holland, and the United States (Schmitt, 1990). This aircraft was employed as Dumont’s personal transportation and he willingly let others make use of his design. The fuselage consisted of a specially reinforced bamboo boom, and the pilot sat beneath between the main wheels of a tricycle landing gear. The Demoiselle was controlled in flight partially by a tail unit, which functioned as both elevator and rudder and by wing warping (number 20).



It presented a wingspan of 5.10 m and an overall length of 8 m. Its weight was little more than 110 kg with Santos-Dumont at the controls. The pilot was seated below the fuselage-wing junction, just behind the wheels, and commanded the tail surfaces using a steering wheel. The sustentation cables of the wing were made of piano ropes. Demoiselle featured airfoils with considerable camber at the wing leading edge. Initially, Santos-Dumont employed a liquid-cooled Dutheil & Chalmers engine with 20 hp. Later, the great inventor repositioned the engine to a lower location, placing it in front of the pilot. He also replaced 370 J. Aerosp. Technol. Manag., São José dos Campos, Vol.4, No 3, pp. 355-379, Jul.-Sep., 2012