In the Fifties, Georges Briffaud designed the GB-6, a tailless airplane with a high wing and a Lutétia 44 hp engine. Inspired by the work of Abrial and Fauvel, he provided his airplane with an inherently stable wing allowing the horizontal tail to be omitted. The wing, however, had an original airfoil section, based on the NACA 23012, whose inherent stability was achieved by raising the trailing edge. Assembled by SAN (Société Aéronautique Normande), this airplane took off with Lucien Quérey (Director of SAN) at the controls in June 1955, from the Bernay airport. While landing on a wet section of the runway, however, the nosewheel dug in and the GB-6 flipped over violently. The pilot was only slightly injured.
Only the wing was salvageable.
All Aero 