1921 saw the test flight of the Late 6 (or LAT.6), an advanced bomber escort fighter in the multiplace de combat category.
Initially flown with 4 x 260 hp Salmson Z9s in push-pull pairs, later, as the Laté 6 Jupiter, flew with 4 x 400 hp Bristol Jupiters.
An all-metal sesquiplane with considerable sweepback, it failed to gain a production contract and the Laté 6 was abandoned due to the high cost of all-metal geodesic construction.
Engine: 4 x 400hp Bristol Jupiter / 4 x 194kW Salmson Z-9 Max take-off weight: 7050 kg / 15543 lb Empty weight: 5000 kg / 11023 lb Wingspan: 27.70 m / 90 ft 11 in Length: 15.74 m / 51 ft 8 in Wing area: 124.00 sq.m / 1334.72 sq ft Max. speed: 215 km/h / 134 mph Cruise speed: 166 km/h / 103 mph Ceiling: 6000 m / 19700 ft Crew: 4-5 Armament: 3 x 7.7mm machine-guns, 2000kg of bombs
The Laté 4 was unstable and on 14 October 1922 the aircraft was caught by a gust and crashed. At this point the civil aircraft was abandoned. In early 1921 a decision had already been made to submit the second Latécoère 4 as a four-man bomber (to BPR 3 spec); it became the Latécoère 5 powered by three 375 hp / 280kW Lorraine 12Da W12 engines.
The Late 5 was unsuccessful.
Engine: 3 x 370hp / 280kW Lorraine 12Da Max take-off weight: 8400 kg / 18519 lb Empty weight: 5230 kg / 11530 lb Wingspan: 26.80 m / 87 ft 11 in Length: 18.10 m / 59 ft 5 in Height: 4.12 m / 13 ft 6 in Wing area: 195.00 sq.m / 2098.96 sq ft Max. speed: 160 km/h / 99 mph Cruise speed: 122 km/h / 76 mph Ceiling: 4000 m / 13100 ft Range: 700 km / 435 miles Crew: 2 Passengers: 24
Designed by Marcel Moine and P.G.Latécoère, the Latécoère 4 (referred to in the initial contract as the Latécoère IV) was the company’s first multi-engined aircraft, the result of a decision that passenger aircraft needed to be designed form scratch rather than modified from military machines. It was a three-engined, two bay biplane with accommodation for 16 passengers. Its wings had neither stagger nor sweep, but had an unusually large interplane gap. The lower wing, which carried dihedral was fixed to the lower fuselage with a thick wing root, but the upper one was high above the fuselage at its centre, supported by pairs of N form cabane struts. The interplane struts were streamlined and broad in chord, made from duralumin; there was a pair of these struts marking the inner bay but a single strut outboard. The wings, made of wood and fabric covered were of constant chord over most of the span, but final sections where the leading edges swept back produced triangular tips. There were balanced ailerons on both upper and lower planes.
The fuselage in contrast was made of metal. The central Salmson water-cooled radial was mounted in the nose with rectangular radiators mounted on the fuselage forward of and just above the lower wing. The outer engines were also fuselage mounted, each having pairs of struts to the upper fuselage longeron and to the lower ones via the wing roots. Thus they were positioned a little above the lower wing, near to the centre of the inner bay in neatly faired nacelles with circular radiators at the front. The underlying fuselage structure was rectangular in cross-section aft of the leading edge, but faired at its sides and top into a rounder shape. It was deepest between the wings and gave the aircraft a somewhat short, fat look. The pilot sat just forward of the wings, high up and well above the central motor line, with a god view. Below and forward of him were positions for a radio operator and an engineer. The passenger cabin, entered via a port side door had tables, armchairs and sliding windows for thirteen, with another three places accessed forward via a 500 mm wide corridor.
The tail unit was quite complicated with a biplane arrangement of tailplanes and elevators. One of the tailplanes could be adjusted in incidence in flight to trim the aircraft. There was a central fin and rudder rising above the upper tailplane, which had a cut-out to allow the rudder to move, and there were two outboard vertical surfaces, again moving in cut-outs, to assist stability. These latter could be turned in flight to offset asymmetric engine-out forces. The undercarriage was narrow track, with pairs of mainwheels on both sides mounted vertically to the wing and cross braced, with a tailwheel at the rear.
The first flight was made in May 1920, when the aircraft was powered by three identical Salmson 9 Z engines of about 255 hp (190 kW), piloted by Pierre Beauté. The Laté 4 proved hard to control and it crashed on landing at Francazal, injuring its crew. It was rebuilt, though without its passenger cabin windows. It also gained a two-row Salmson 18 Z central engine of double the power of the 9 Zs retained outboard. The central engine drove a four-bladed wooden propeller and the outer pair two-bladed ones. The open cockpit was turned into an enclosed cabin with a corridor aft. It appeared in this form at the Salon d’Aéronautique in December 1921, but did not fly again until some major changes had been made. These included the replacement of the single outboard interplane struts by double ones, an exchange of the rectangular central engine radiators for tubular Lamblin ones and the addition of a substantial additional pair of wheels placed vertically below the engine bulkhead to prevent nose-overs. All engines now drove four-bladed propellers. In this form the Laté 4 flew, piloted by Gronin on 6 September 1922. The aircraft was still unstable and unready to try the intended Toulouse-Casablanca route. On 14 October the aircraft was caught by a gust and crashed, seriously injuring Gronin and his engineer Franck. At this point the civil aircraft was abandoned. In early 1921 a decision had already been made to submit the second Latécoère 4 as a bomber; it became the Latécoère 5.
Initial specifications Engine: 3 × Salmson 9 Z, 190 kW / 255 hp Wingspan: 24.65 m (80 ft 10½ in) Length: 14.54 m (47 ft 8 in) Height: 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in) Wing area: 158 sq.m Empty weight: 3,615 kg (7,970 lb) Gross weight: 8,340 kg (18,387 lb) Maximum speed: 200 km/h (125 mph) Range: 1,100 km (688 miles) Crew: 3 Passengers: 15
Engine: 1 x 550hp Salmson 18CM + 2 x 260hp Salmson 9Z Max take-off weight: 8340 kg / 18387 lb Empty weight: 3615 kg / 7970 lb Wingspan: 24.80 m / 81 ft 4 in Length: 14.80 m / 48 ft 7 in Height: 6.25 m / 20 ft 6 in Wing area: 158.00 sq.m / 1700.70 sq ft Max. speed: 180 km/h / 112 mph Cruise speed: 148 km/h / 92 mph Range: 1100 km / 684 miles Crew: 2 Passengers: 10
In 1919 there appeared the Late 3 biplane postal aircraft, shown at the 1919 Paris Salon. A revised Salmsom 2 by Marcel Moine, with redesigned shorter metal fuselage. One was built for Aéropostale, went to Ligne France Espagne Maroc.
Engine: 1 x Salmson 8Z, 260hp Max take-off weight: 1670 kg / 3682 lb Empty weight: 930 kg / 2050 lb Wingspan: 12.85 m / 42 ft 2 in Length: 8.25 m / 27 ft 1 in Height: 3.40 m / 11 ft 2 in Wing area: 46.25 sq.m / 497.83 sq ft Max. speed: 170 km/h / 106 mph Cruise speed: 159 km/h / 99 mph Range: 600 km / 373 miles Crew: 2
The 1909 French Lataste Aeroplane Gyroscopique was constructed of metal and the circular top wing was covered with fabric. It featured a long, uncovered, tapered frame with a propeller at each end; each propeller had two semicircular blades like sections of Archimedean screws, and turned the same way. Above the frame was the flat rotating, circular wing surface, probably mounted on a swivel joint. This surface and the propellers were driven through a long horizontal propeller shaft and planetary gears; the shaft ran through a cylindrical fuel tank inside the fuselage. The machine was mounted on four wheels, with the pilot sitting between them holding on to a steering wheel, which probably controlled the rotating winged surface high above him.
The photo shows a model of machine, which was displayed at the first Paris Salon Aéronautique in December 1908.
Lasley Sport N819N is one of the original Roza creations of the early ’30s, and it was acquired by Franklin Aircraft Co, who modified it a prototype for their Sport 90. It was purchased by Lasley c.1935. who built and installed Peyton Autry-designed wings, then sold it to Lloyd Gabriel. After a crash, it was rebuilt in 1953, reportedly with 125hp Continental, then crashed to destruction in 1957 while buzzing a house.
Ángel Lascurain y Osio wanted to manufacture an aircraft designed for the regional airlines of some parts of Mexico that required short airstrips in rugged terrain.
Lascurain determined that regional airlines required a twin-engine plane with fixed landing gear that was affordable, capable of landing at low speed on short runways. The aircraft had to have a high rate of climb to overcome the mountainous areas.
In 1955 Ángel Lascurain went with the architect Juan Cortina Portilla, beginning the design of the aircraft based on the Turkey Buzzard, a bird for which Lascurain had fascination.
The aircraft was a twin-engine monoplane with a mid-wing monocoque fuselage built in duralumin that was capable of holding 12 people in 2 rows of 6 seats plus a bathroom lobby, with the option of 14 seats without the bathroom, plus two pilots. The fuselage was part of the wings through beams. Each wing had between the engine and the fuselage two compartments for luggage of 0.65 cubic meters each, the aircraft had two tanks of fuel of 200 liters each that fed to the Jacobs R-755 engines by gravity and pumps besides two auxiliary tanks located at the outer wing of 50 liters each.
It was the largest aircraft designed and built in Mexico.
On December 24, 1957, during a routine flight of the Lascurain Aura XB-ZEU at the Mexico City Airport for no apparent reason, both engines of the aircraft were stopped and the pilot attempted to land at the airport. planning for runway 13, they crashed a few meters before the runway, killing the pilot Carlos Castillo Segura and Angel Lascurain.
Powerplants: 2 × Jacobs R-755-A1, 245 hp (183 kW) Wingspan: 68 ft 3 in (20.8 m) Length: 40 ft 1 in (12.22 m) Height: 14 ft 10 in (4.51 m) Gross weight: 4,409 lb (2,000 kg) Fuel capacity: 132 USgal. (500 L) (with reserves) Maximum speed: 120 kn (140 mph, 220 km/h) Cruise speed: 107 kn (123 mph, 198 km/h) at 75% thrust Minimum control speed: 30 kn (35 mph, 56 km/h) Range: 430 nmi (500 mi, 800 km) Service ceiling: 26,900 ft (8,200 m) Rate of climb: 1,033 ft/min (5.25 m/s) Crew: two Capacity: 12 or 14 passengers
The Las Brisas Mohawk is an American homebuilt aircraft that was designed and produced by Las Brisas Sales of Ozark, Missouri. When it was available the aircraft was supplied in the form of plans for amateur construction.
Based upon the Avid Flyer, which it greatly resembles, the Mohawk features a strut-braced high wing, a two-seats-in-side-by-side configuration enclosed cockpit accessed via doors, fixed conventional landing gear and a single engine in tractor configuration.
The aircraft is made from metal tubing, with its flying surfaces and fuselage covered doped aircraft fabric. Its 30.00 ft (9.1 m) span wing features Junkers flaperons, has a wing area of 124.5 sq ft (11.57 m2) and is supported by “V” struts with jury struts. The plans specify standard hydraulic brakes, a steerable tailwheel and wings that fold for ground transport or storage. The standard engine used is the 50 hp (37 kW) Rotax 503 two-stroke powerplant, which gives a standard day, sea level takeoff distance of 100 ft (30 m) and a landing roll of 150 ft (46 m).
The Mohawk has a typical empty weight of 450 lb (200 kg) and a gross weight of 1,000 lb (450 kg), giving a useful load of 550 lb (250 kg). With full fuel of 12 U.S. gallons (45 L; 10.0 imp gal) the payload for pilot, passenger and baggage is 478 lb (217 kg).
The manufacturer estimated the construction time from the supplied plans as 900 hours. In 1998 the designer indicated that the aircraft could be completed for US$6,500 excluding labor. In 1998, plans were sold for US$229.00 but by 2014 were no longer available.
Mohawk Engine: 1 × Rotax 503, 50 hp (37 kW) Propeller: 2-bladed wooden Wingspan: 30 ft 0 in (9.14 m) Wing area: 124.5 sq ft (11.57 m2) Length: 18 ft 0 in (5.49 m) Empty weight: 450 lb (204 kg) Gross weight: 1,000 lb (454 kg) Fuel capacity: 12 U.S. gallons (45 L; 10.0 imp gal) Maximum speed: 130 mph (209 km/h; 113 kn) Cruise speed: 85 mph (137 km/h; 74 kn) Stall speed: 30 mph (48 km/h; 26 kn) flaperons down Range: 320 mi (278 nmi; 515 km) Service ceiling: 12,000 ft (3,700 m) Rate of climb: 1,200 ft/min (6.1 m/s) Wing loading: 8.0 lb/sq ft (39 kg/m2) Crew: one Capacity: one passenger
