The “Aviateur”, as designed and built by Louis-Étienne Roze. Recognizable due to the catamaran configuration of the rigid airship hulls. The Aviateur was a putative challenger for the Deutsch de la Meurthe prize, eventually won by Santos-Dumont using his No. 6 dirigible – but when tested in 1901, it failed to fly.
Trials took place on the 5th and 6th of September 1901. Miscalculations by M.Roze meant the airship was too heavy and managed to lift only fifteen feet, then coming down and landing softly. At 10 hp each, the two Santos-Dumont (Buchet) motors were too weak. The inherent problem with the motors was that they served the lifting propellors, which in turn had to be switched over to the propulsion/push propellors to move forward. Thus , no forward flight and the silk “wings” remained vertical, not closing to the horizontal.
As Roze had no further financial means to build the Aviateur larger nothing was ever heard of his airship again.
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