The Voisin de Caters : the « making of

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The Voisin de Caters :
the « making of »
Voisin de Caters “The making of”
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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.
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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.
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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
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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”
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The Voisin "de Caters" replica under construction at the Royal
Army Museum – Aeronautical Section Brussels.
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The Voisin "de Caters" was
built by the brothers Gabriel
and Charles Voisin at their
Boulogne Billancourt w orkshop
(Paris, France). The Vois in
biplane is the first French
aircraft to perform a controlled
flight. On January, 13th 1908,
Henri Farman, accomplis hed
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 specim ens of v arious
v ersions w ere built from 1907
to 1912.
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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.
Characteristi cs:
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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
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Pierre Cryns
and Jean
Choffray
working on
the fuselage
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The Dabert at
la Ferté Î
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.
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The Project
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.
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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.
Voisin de Caters “The making of”
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.
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 first study makes it
possible to check that the
fuselage of Dabert can be
used for this reconstitution.
A visit to the Air Museum
at Le Bourget permitted
to obtain invaluable
information and to record
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Pictures
Collection JeanPierre Lauwers
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Assembling
the
undercarria
ge build by
Louis
Maenhout.
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2005 :
The tank and
his support
fabricated by
the Museum
metalworker.
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2007 : Rear
undercarriage
forks made
from bicycle
parts. Ô
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Easter 2008 :
Gerard
experimentin
g the
covering
technique. Ò
The tail is
assembled
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One of the
drawings
prepared by
Pierre for the
tail. Ô
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Summer
2008 :
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The wings
and the tail
are
assembled
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October
2008 :
Covering the
wings : The
Firmin team
at work with
the support
of the
Halberstadt
team.
(Pictures
Firmin
Henrard team
& Didier
Waelkens)
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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.
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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.
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Voisin de Caters by Dragan Salers
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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.
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