Moisant L’Ecrevisse

John Bevins Moisant designed and built two aircraft between August 1909 and 1910, before he became an officially licensed pilot. His first was the Moisant Biplane. This experimental aircraft became the first all-metal aircraft in the world, being constructed entirely from aluminium and steel. Also known as the “aluminio-plane”, an all-metal sesquiplane built at Issy-les-Moulineaux by American aviator John Benjamin Moisant entirely of steel and aluminium; constructed by workmen hired from the Clément-Bayard airship hangar and completed in February 1910.

Revolutionary in the construction of its wing – patented by John Moisant (a US citizen) in France as 414,748 – described as aiming to make the machine automatically stable laterally without any form of ailerons or wing warping.

The Moisant biplane’s inaugural flight, and Moisant first flight, ultimately resulted in a crash after ascending only 90 feet.

Gallery

Engine: Gnôme, 50 hp
Wingspan: 5.5 m
Length: 9 m
Wing area: 22 sq.m
Weight 250 kg

Moisant, John Bevins

John Bevins Moisant (25 April 1868 – 31 December 1910) was an American aviator born of French/Canadian parents. As a pilot, he was the first to conduct passenger flights over a city, across the English Channel, from Paris to London.

Moisant entered the aviation field in 1909 as a hobby after attending the Grande Semaine d’Aviation de la Champagne air show in Reims, France in August 1909. In the spring of 1910, Moisant took four flying lessons at the Blériot School, headed by Louis Blériot.

Moisant funded his aviation career with proceeds from business ventures in El Salvador, where he had led two failed revolutions and coup attempts against President Figueroa in 1907 and 1909.

He designed and built two aircraft between August 1909 and 1910, before he became an officially licensed pilot. His first was the Moisant Biplane. This experimental aircraft became the first all-metal aircraft in the world, being constructed entirely from aluminium and steel. This aircraft was completed in February 1910.

The Moisant biplane’s inaugural flight, and Moisant first flight, ultimately resulted in a crash after ascending only 90 feet.

On August 9, 1910, Moisant flew his third flight as a pilot in his first recently purchased Blériot XI from Étampes to Issy-les-Moulineaux over Paris, landing the aircraft at the starting line of the Le Circuit de l’Est aerial time trial circuit. Accompanying Moisant as a passenger on the flight was his mechanic, making the trip the first passenger flight over a city in the world.

Only months after becoming a trained pilot, Moisant died after being ejected from his airplane over a field just west of New Orleans, Louisiana, where he was competing for the 1910 Michelin Cup.

Mohawk Aerial Navigation Company Glider

One of the gliders built by Charles Proteus Steinmetz – the “Wizard of Schenectady” – and others in 1894. While working for General Electric at Schenectady, N.Y., Steinmetz organized a band of fellow flying machine enthusiasts into the Mohawk Aerial Navigation Company, and over the summer of 1894 built and tested a man-carrying kite and two true gliders. None were particularly successful.

Mohawk Aerial Navigation Company

Charles Proteus Steinmetz he had dwarfism, was hunchback, and had hip dysplasia. While working for General Electric at Schenectady, N.Y., Steinmetz organized a band of fellow flying machine enthusiasts into the Mohawk Aerial Navigation Company, and over the summer of 1894 built and tested a man-carrying kite and two true gliders. None were particularly successful.

Mines Dot Biplane 1909

This Edward Mines curiosity was entered in the Doncaster (UK) Flying Meet, and made its debut there on the fifth day of the event (Wednesday, October 20, 1909). It attracted some media attention, unfortunately most of it negative. Promptly nicknamed the “coffee-stall”, its planes had a span of only fourteen feet and a chord of six feet. There was no tail, and the ruddering was by means of square ‘flaps’ fitted between the wings. This machine had an elevator in front of the top plane, and the bottom plane’s extremities were adjustable. Needless to say, it never flew. A photo exists of the Mines biplane in an earlier version, without the flaps between the wings.

Mickl Marineapparat I

Joseph Mickl designed many flying boats during the first World War for the k.u.k. navy, and after the war for Yugoslavia. The machine is seen here in its initial monoplane form in summer 1911. It was first flown at the Pola Aerodrom at Valtursko Polje, Austria-Hungary, on 29 July 1911, probably by the Graz born Viktor Klobucar. Later that year it was converted to a biplane with floats as the first aircraft of the k.u.k. Navy.