The Voisin de Caters : the «making of» Voisin de Caters The making of 1
The construction of the Voisin de Caters was a long and complicated odyssey which started in the years 1970 s when Jean Salis fabricated the Dabert aeroplane for a TV serie. Later, this replica based on the Voisin biplane was acquired by the Royal Army Museum with the plan to use it to build the aircraft flown by the first Belgian airman. The project really started after the completion of the Battaille triplane. Giving a full and detailed account of the manufacturing of the Voisin de Caters is nearly impossible. In place of this, we propose to you a scrapbook dedicated to all of the peoples known, unknown and forgotten who add this aeroplane to the rich collection of the Air and Space Hall of the Royal Army Museum in Brussels Thanks to Alex, Bruno, Claude, David, Dragan, Eric, the Hexcel company, Etienne Ferhat, Firmin, Henri, all the Jacques, Jean-Pierre,Karl, Louis, Luc, Marcel, Nicolas, Olivier, Pascal, all the Pierre, René, Roger, Roland, Théo, Vincent, Firmin and his team and the Halberstadt team. Cover : Painting by Claude Lesoil with the authorization of Roland Versel e Voisin de Caters The making of 3
The Voisin "de Caters" replica under construction at the Royal Army Museum Aeronautical Section Brussels. The Voisin "de Caters" is the plane of the first official flight by a Belgian in 1909 in Saint Jobin-T-Goor, with the baron Pierre de Caters at the controls. The Voisin "de Caters" was built by the brothers Gabriel and Charles Voisin at their Boulogne Billancourt w orkshop (Paris, France). The Voisin biplane is the first French aircraft to perform a controlled flight. On January, 13th 1908, Henri Farman, accomplished on a Voisin, a flight of 1 kilometer in a closed loop at Issy -les-moulineaux, gaining the Deutch-Ardeacon prize. It w as a cellular biplane, i.e. a kind of kite motorized and assembled on wheels. Nearly 80 specimens of v arious v ersions w ere built from 1907 to 1912. Characteristi cs: Pre Wingspan: 10m20 Length: 10m42 Height: 2m85 Cord: 2m Tare weight: 575 kg Laden weight: 880 kg Speed: 65 km/h Engine: (Voisin de Caters ) standard ENV F 8 cylinders in V, water cooling 60HP Propeller: Voisin diameter 2m40 Release Voisin de Caters The making of 7
The Project The Dabert at la Ferté Pierre Cryns and Jean Choffray working on the fuselage In the years seventies, the Museum exchanged the "Dabert" coming from the collection of Jean Salis. The "Dabert" is a flying replica of the Voisin biplane built in 1973 for the TV movie "The daisy cutters" (Les faucheurs de marguerites in French) telling the exploits of the French aviation s pioneers. Edouard Dabert, a pioneer born from the imagination of the scenario writers, was experiencing flight with Ferber, Blériot or Santos Dumont. Dabert built his own aircraft. It is this machine which the Museum inherited. To build the Dabert, the Salis team used the Voisin de course (Voisin racer) as a template. The Dabert was also flow during airshows at La Ferté. When arriving at the Brussels Museum, the Dabert was stored. Unfortunately, the replica slowly decayed. After the success of the restoration of the Battaille triplane, the Brussels Air Museum Restoration team considered the construction of a replica of one of the biplanes of the baron de Caters. The goal was to reconstitute one of the Voisin biplanes with which Pierre de Caters carried out, in 1908 and 1909, first successful flights by a Belgian in Belgium. A first s tudy makes it possible to check that the fuselage of Dabert can be used for this recons titution. New wings must be built but an engine ENV, of the same type that that used by Caters, was available from the collections of the Museum. A v isit to the Air Museum at Le Bourget permitted to obtain invaluable information and to record Voisin de Caters The making of 8
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Release Pictures Collection Jean- Pierre Lauwers Pre Voisin de Caters The making of 18
Assembling the undercarria ge build by Louis Maenhout. Voisin de Caters The making of 22
2005 : The tank and his support fabricated by the Museum metalworker. 2007 : Rear undercarriage forks made from bicycle parts. Voisin de Caters The making of 26
Easter 2008 : Gerard experimentin g the covering technique. The tail is assembled One of the drawings prepared by Pierre for the tail. Voisin de Caters The making of 29
Summer 2008 : The wings and the tail are assembled Voisin de Caters The making of 30
October 2008 : Covering the wings : The Firmin team at work with the support of the Halberstadt team. (Pictures Firmin Henrard team & Didier Waelkens) Voisin de Caters The making of 34
October 22th 2008 : The wings arrived from the Firmin workshop a few days ago and the fuselage has been lifted by the Defense and the Museum peoples to the exhibition place. A moment of doubt and grace : The de Caters is finally assembled. Voisin de Caters The making of 35
October 28th 2008 : Mission completed! Until a few minutes before the inauguration, small details are fixed in the space prepared by the Museum. Finally at 18:30, the General Manager of the Museum presented the aircraft to the public in the presence of a large assi stance including the de Caters familly. Voisin de Caters The making of 36
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Voisin de Caters by Dragan Salers Dragan Saler produced for us an extensi ve set of drawings of the Voisin de Caters. Theses drawings were used during the construction of the aircraft and will be published in a separate book. Voisin de Caters The making of 38
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