Voisin 1907 biplane

The Voisin - Farman I is a double-decker aircraft in duck design, which the then motorist Henri Farman known by the brothers Voisin on the basis of their standard Voisin had built. In the design, the designers had largely aligned to the model of the Wright Flyer. As with this, the engine behind the pilot was installed, but looked directly at only one pressure screw. The horizontal tail was attached to two arms in the front while the two rudder behind sat in a kind of box, the arranged of two superimposed, slightly curved, but immobile, bearing surfaces was formed. The chassis had two steerable suspension and large wheels in front and two small under the rear box.

Henri Farman built the Voisin biplane on its experience in testing several times to and thus gained an increasingly more powerful aircraft. For example, the stabilizing surfaces were removed between the wings. Farman won with this machine on October 26, 1907 in Issy -les -Moulineaux the absolute world speed record for land planes with 52.700 km / h On January 13, 1908, he succeeded to perform the first confirmed engine airplane in the world more than 1 km distance. He won donated by Archdeacon and German Grand Prix d'Aviation, which was endowed with 50,000 francs. Later, the route could be increased up to 24.125 km. Farman tried in this time also an enlarged rudder and replaced in October 1908, the Flächenverwindung used until then by ailerons.

In Germany, the Albatros Flugzeugwerke in Johannisthal and Aviation acquired the license in Mulhouse and built the aircraft in series.

Later, it was first converted into a three-decker in 1909 and sold to the syndicate Vienna to organize sightseeing flights. There it was again dismantled in a biplane. Flight tests with this machine thus modified were repeatedly unsuccessful. Finally, the plane came into the Museum of Military History.

Specifications (1907 )

• Length: 11,40 m
• Wingspan: 10.00 m
• Wing area: 49 m²
• Start Weight: 544 kg
• Engine: Levasseur Antoinette V 8 with 50 hp

• Civilian aircraft type
• Aviation (France)