The Concours de La Sécurité en Aéroplanes Competition
A Blériot XI in flight in modern times. A number of this type of aircraft featured at the Concours safety event held at Buc, France in 1914. The pilot of Watson's No.3 entered into the competition, a Mr S. Summerfield of Melton Mowbray owned a Blériot XI and gave demonstrations over his home town in it. Author.
The following text is from an article published in the May 2014 issue of New Zealand Aviation News called "Mais c'est inoui!" (But that's unheard of!) The 1914 Concours de La Sécurité en Aéroplanes competition in its abridged form. It is used here, with permission, owing to its detailed examination of the event.
From 1 January to 1 July 1914, L'Union pour la Securité en Aeroplane organisation held the first Concours de La Sécurité en Aéroplanes at Buc aerodrome, near Paris, in which an impressive 56 aircraft were entered.
Throughout the following six months of the Concours, 21 of the machines demonstrated their particular features in flight. A prevalent theme of several designs was automatic stability in flight, which, due to a lack of adequate lateral control was a condition strived for in European aircraft prior to the appearance of Wilbur Wright and his wing warping Flyer at Hunaudiéres racecourse, near Le Mans on 8 August 1908.
Aircraft of this type were collectively known as 'Total Stability Types' and were characterised by pronounced dihedral on their main wings, but owing to the lack of lateral control, the pilot had no means of inducing or correcting movement about the aircraft's longitudinal axis. Before Wright's demonstration flights, European pilots relied solely on the use of rudder to execute a turn; their aircraft side-slipping clumsily around to complete such a manoeuvre.
A number of notable aircraft constructors entered their machines in the competition, including Robert Esnault-Pelterie, known to all as R.E.P., who contributed greatly to aircraft design throughout his career, including being the first to enclose the cockpit and fit seat belt restraints for the pilot. In May 1904, R.E.P. modfied a glider he had constructed and fitted ailerons to it, the first to be fitted to a full scale aircraft, although in effect the surfaces acted more like primitive elevons.
R.E.P.'s machine in the Concours was a conventionally configured parasol monoplane which was automatically stable longitudinally; it was a total stability type. Gaston Caudron entered a two-seat biplane of his own, soon to become a familiar and widely exported design, into the competition. On Tuesday 26 May 1914 Caudron made demonstrations of his machine, displaying "...marked steadiness and perfect landings..." at Chalons, before leaving for Chartres, "...where he arrived safely after a long tussle with a head wind." As recorded in a contemporary issue of Flight magazine.
That day was the first in which practical flying tests were conducted by the first entrants into the Concours, it was remarked at the time that, "...no machines of startlingly new design made an appearance on this occasion, the Caudron and the Blériot [piloted by M. le Bourhis, who demonstrated the ease in which his machine handled in unusual manoeuvres, including tail sldes and zig zags] at Chalons having been apparently standard machines." Although already entered into the competition, at that time Scotsman Preston Watson's decidedly unconventional No.3 had not yet made any demonstration flights.
The only British participant in the competition, Watson had previously conceived an entirely original means of controlling an aeroplane in flight; his rocking wing method of lateral and longitudinal control. Above the main plane, a secondary shorter span wing was located at the apex of an 'A' frame, which pivoted about its central axis. According to Watson, this was a natural means of controlling an aircraft in flight and in 1909 he applied for Patent No. 47 Improvements in Flying Machines, which described how the rocking wing worked.
A clipping from the 2 July 1914 issue of Flight magazine illustrating four aeroplanes that took part in the Concours. The unusual configuration of Watson's No.3 compared to the others is noteworthy. Flight via the National Museums of Scotland.
Part of the conditions of entry into the Concours was that a written description of the particular innovation and its application on aeroplanes, had to be supplied. Watson provided his to the editors of Flight magazine, in which it was published in the 15 May 1914 issue. In it, Watson describes the advantages of the rocking wing and how it compared directly to the Wright's use of wing warping. Watson also supplied photographs of the No.3, which provide a good insight into the construction of his peculiar machine.
At Chartres another Blériot, described as a "total visibility type" owing to the excellent view from the cockpit because of its parasol wing was exhibited on 26 May, by Lieutenant Gouin who fitted wings of his own design, which had considerable washout applied to its wingtips. The aircraft was also fitted with a split rudder air-brake, which was of considerable interest to the judges.
Both Lt Gouin's Blériot and a Schmitt variable incidence biplane being flown by M. Garaix were flown at Chartres on this day; the Schmitt being considerably noteworthy, demonstrating its complete controllability whilst flying at the minimum speed laid down during the Concours, 55 km/h, "...in the very bad wind blowing, even when loaded with pilot, three passengers and 200 litres of petrol, and 70 kilogrammes of oil, making a total weight of 1,700 kgs." M. Garaix's performance in the Schmitt aeroplane was considered excellent, the variable incidence feature being particularly noted.
Despite being Spring, the weather was not always favourable to the flimsy machines buzzing about the French countryside; whilst flying from Melun to Chartres in his automatically stable monoplane, M. Moreau encountered strong winds, "...but after 30 minutes in the air he was compelled to come down from 'seasickness' caused by the terrific rocking of the machine."
In the 24 June 1914 issue of the contemporary German periodical Flugsport in a piece on the Concours titled Der große bewerb der "Sicherheit im Flugzeug" loosely translated as 'The Great Contest, the Security in Aeroplanes', it was recorded that a final call was made by the jurors for those whose machines had not yet performed in the competition to compete.
The list was as follows and included a few familiar names; Landron, Bader, Balassanian, de Biere, Delalande, Domengaud, Juvigny, Drzewiecki, Hanriot, Gouin, Schmitt; Moreau, Doutre, Étévé, de Monge, Esnault-Pelterie, de la Serre; Bonnet, Mackay, Oskellek, Couade, Hervieu. In the same article, two images of Watson's No.3 appear. Despite it having not competed by that time, no doubt Oskar Ursinus the magazine's editor was intrigued enough by it to include it in the article. The exact date Watson’s No.3 made its first flying appearance during the competition is not known.
Taken by German magazine Flugsport's Paris correspondent and appearing in the 24 June 1914 issue, Watson's No.3 is about to be started. Although the machine did not qualify, it attracted sufficient interest in the media at the event, no doubt because of its unconventional design. Note the arrows indicating the rocking wing motion. Flugsport via Author.
One particular innovation with an enormous impact on aviation that made an appearance in the Concours was the gyro-stabilised autopilot. Fitted to a Curtiss C-2 biplane with a hydroplane hull, the Sperry-Curtiss stabiliser was a simple device that consisted of a quadruple gyroscope that actuated the ailerons and elevator; the gyro was driven by the flying boat's engine at a rate of 12,000 rpm. Longitudinal control was regulated by a small wind vane attached to an upright strut holding the powerplant in place between the flying boat's wings, which actuated one of the gyros.
On 18 June and listed last on the program, 22 year old Lawrence B. Sperry, the autopilot's designer demonstrated the effectiveness of his device in the Curtiss at an altitude of 400 feet in front of the Concours judges, prompting a stream of astonished cries from those assembled. Once airborne from the Seine River, Sperry carried out a single pass in front of the assembled crowd and judges, then, with the firemen's band from nearby villages of Bezons and Argenteuil galloping through a rendition of 'The Star Spangled Banner', Sperry engaged the device and removed his hands from the controls, raising them above his head as he flew past the judges.
The assembled crowd was ecstatic and cheered loudly as on the next pass, Sperry's French mechanic Emil Cachin who spoke not a word of English, left his seat and climbed out onto the wing, but the aircraft remained flying straight and level despite the shift in weight. At this, the crowd roared in approval and the band began an enthusiastic rendition of 'La Marsellaise'.
Sperry had more to offer however, on his third pass, with he also left the cockpit and gingerly made his way onto the aircraft's wing and with not a single occupant at the controls, the Curtiss rumbled on with Cachin and Sperry waving to the spectators from their precarious positions on the wings. One of the judges, René Quinton, astonished and initially struck speechless, loudly exclaimed “Mais, c'est inoui!” (That's unheard of!) To verify absolutely that Sperry was not controlling the machine, on a second flight, Commandant Barrés, one of the Concours judge was taken aloft.
On 1 July the The Concours de La Securité en Aeroplanes competition came to an end and the judges met to consider the entries and make their final recommendations before awarding prize money. Of the original 56 entrants in the competition, only 21 had actually carried out trials by the Concours end. After what was a lengthy period of consideration, it was decided and apparently anticipated, not to award the 'Grand Prix' of ￡16,000 to one entrant alone, but to divide it among those whose inventions were worthy of further development.
The main prize of ￡2,000 went to the American Sperry Gyroscopic Company for their Sperry-Curtiss stabiliser and a second of ￡1,200 to the Paul Schmitt biplane and its variable incidence wings. It was decided to award seven consolation prises out of the remaining prize money to the following: ￡600 to the Caudron brothers for their two-seat biplane, ￡400 to the Doutre stabiliser, ￡400 to the Sociétié Avi-Auto for the Le Large carburettor, ￡320 for the Eteve stabiliser, ￡200 for the Moreau monoplane, ￡80 for the Robert parachute and ￡40 to MM. Phillipe and Perron for their starter motor, or demarreur in French. Such an item was a rarity on aircraft in 1914 and deserved further experimentation, as its application would have changed the nature of aviation at the time; pilots could avoid having to swing the propeller by hand to get their machines started.
An admirable attempt at inspiring the fledgling industry to construct safer aircraft, albeit with considerable financial incentive, the Concours de La Securité en Aeroplanes was ground breaking. With European nations being plunged into war in the latter half of the year however, the efforts of the inventors and constructors that entered the competition were almost entirely overlooked. Only a paltry few of the innovations featured survived the turmoil of the following four years, resulting in the fact that to this day the very first international symposium on aircraft safety remains largely unknown.
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