Victor Tatin | |
|---|---|
| Born | 1843 Paris |
| Died | 18 April 1913[1] |
| Nationality | French |
| Occupation(s) | Aeronautical inventor and engineer |
| Honours | Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur |
Victor Tatin (1843–1913) was a French engineer who created an early airplane, the Aéroplane, in 1879. The craft was the first model airplane to take off using its own power after a run on the ground.[2][3][4]
The model had a span of 1.90 m (6 ft 3 in) and weighed 1.8 kg (4.0 lb). It had twin propellers and was powered by a compressed-air engine.[5] It was flown tethered to a central pole on a circular track at the military facilities of Chalais-Meudon. Running under its own power it took off at a speed of 8 metres per second.[5]
Between 1890 and 1897 Tatin and Charles Richet experimented with a steam-powered model with a wingspan of 6.6 m (21 ft 8 in) and weighing 33 kg (73 lb) with fore and aft propellers. They succeeded in flying this for a distance of 140 metres (460 ft) at a speed of 18 metres per second.[6][7][8] In 1902-3 he collaborated with Maurice Mallet on the construction of the dirigible Ville de Paris for Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe[9] and in 1905 he designed the propeller used by Traian Vuia for his experimental aircraft of 1906-7. In 1908 Tatin designed an unsuccessful pusher monoplane which was exhibited at the 1908 Paris Aéro Salon.[10] In 1911 he collaborated with Louis Paulhan on the design of the Aéro-Torpille, a monoplane with a remarkably streamlined design.
- ^ Victor Tatin l'Aérophile, 1 May 1913, p.196
- ^ Vehicles of the Air by Victor Lougheed, p.157
- ^ The human motor: energy, fatigue, and the origins of modernity by Anson Rabinbach p.99 [1]
- ^ Wilbur's Story by Donald B. Holmes
- ^ a b Exhibit Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace
- ^ Expériences Faites Avec Un Aéroplane l'Aérophile, June–July 1897, pp.128-30
- ^ Victor Tatin at Flyingmachines.org, retrieved 25 June 2014
- ^ boboce. "Le vol du Cap de la Hève". aviation le havre (in French). Retrieved 2021-07-23.
- ^ La "Ville de Paris" l'Aérophile, February 1903, p. 48
- ^ Clement Bayard Flight, 9 January 1901, p.21