| Caudron C.33 | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Role | Three seat passenger transport |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Caudron |
| Designer | Paul Deville |
| First flight | 1919-20 |
| Number built | 2 |
The Caudron C.33 "Landaulet Monsieur-Madame" was a French twin engined biplane with four seats, two in open cockpits and two in an enclosed cabin.
Between 1919 and 1922 Caudron built a series of multi-engined civil passenger transport biplanes of similar design but increasing size and engine power, the C.33, C.37, C.39, C.43 and C.61. The C.33 was the only twin engined aircraft in the series and the smallest in span and passenger capacity, while the others had three or five engines. [1] Rather than being a small airliner taking paying passengers, the Landaulet Monsieur-Madame was intended as the equivalent of a chauffeur driven car carrying a couple and one other member of the household, as its name suggested. [2]
The C.33 was a three bay biplane with fabric covered, rectangular plan wings mounted without stagger. Only the shorter lower wings had dihedral, which began outboard of the engines. The wings were joined by vertical pairs of interplane struts, the forward members attached near the leading edges, and the centre section was supported by similar, shorter cabane struts from the upper forward fuselage. Each inner bay was defined by two close pairs of parallel interplane struts, supporting a 60 kW (80 hp) Le Rhône 9C nine cylinder rotary engine between them, about halfway between the wings. Each wing mounted engine was in a long, tapered cowling, open at the rear. [2] Fuel was held in wedge shaped tanks within the cowlings, their horizontal rear edges visible from behind. [3] Each held 100 l (22 imp gal; 26 US gal). Both upper and lower wings carried ailerons, which were not balanced. [2]
The fuselage of the C.33 was rectangular in section. Two open cockpits were located in tandem in the wedge shaped nose. A passenger sat in front with the pilot behind. Behind the pilot there was an enclosed cabin, with a window on each side and a port side door. [2] It contained a pair of upholstered wicker chairs mounted on swivels. [3]
Behind the wings the fuselage tapered gently to a broad, triangular fin which carried a vertical edged balanced rudder that reached down to the keel. The tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage so its elevators had a notch for rudder movement. The C.37 had a fixed tailskid undercarriage. There were pairs of main wheels mounted on single axles attached at their centre to a longitudinal bar held under the engine at each end on short, forward raked V-struts. [2]
The Landaulet Monsieur-Madame probably first flew late in 1919 or early in the next year. It was on display at the Paris Aero Show of 1919, [3] though possibly unflown. Two appeared on the French civil register, remaining on it until 1931. [4]
Data from Hauet (2001) p.143 [2]
General characteristics
Performance
The Caudron C.251 Et-2 was a French tandem seat, open cockpit biplane designed as an intermediate trainer and built in 1931. It did not go into production.
The Caudron C.220 was a two-seat French biplane trainer. Only two were built, using different engines.
The Caudron C.140 was a French tandem cockpit sesquiplane designed in 1928 as a combination of liaison aircraft and observer and gunnery trainer.
The Caudron C.91 was a French single engine biplane with an enclosed passenger cabin seating four. It first flew in 1923.
The Caudron C.74 was a ten-seat, four engine passenger biplane built in France in 1922. It showed promise but the sole prototype crashed fatally in a competition and no more were completed.
The Caudron C.68 was a two-seat French training and touring aircraft, built in the early 1920s, which attracted interest at the time because of its simple and fast wing folding arrangement. Only a few were produced.
The Caudron C.67 was a simple single seat biplane with a low powered engine. It was built and flown in France in 1922.
The Caudron C.43 was the first French five-engined aircraft, a biplane intended for passenger transport or military use and multi-engined for safety. A development of the three-engined Caudron C.39, it had one tractor configuration engine in the nose and two push-pull pairs between the wings. It was capable of carrying eight passengers but was not developed.
The Caudron C.39 was a French three-engined biplane with a cabin for six passengers when the aircraft was equipped as a landplane or four passengers when on floats. It was flown with some success in competitions in 1920 and 1921.
The Caudron C.37 was a French three-engined biplane passenger transport, built in 1920. It could carry six passengers.
The Caudron C.25 was a large, three-engined, biplane airliner, designed and built in France soon after the end of World War I. Its enclosed cabin could accommodate up to eighteen passengers.
The Caudron C.23 was a French long range twin engine night bomber, flown in the last year of World War I. Post-war some machines were modified to carry passengers.
The Caudron C.21 was a French twin engine biplane built just after World War I, able to carry three passengers in an open cockpit.
The Caudron Type L was a two-seat French pusher configuration amphibious biplane, flown around 1913 and intended for naval use.
The Caudron Type B was a 1911 development of the earliest Caudron type, the Caudron Type A, with a nacelle style fuselage and more powerful engine. Initially an equal span biplane, it was modified into a sesquiplane.
The Caudron Type B Multiplace was a large French biplane designed to carry up to five passengers in a cross country time trial of 1912. It was destroyed early in the event.
The Caudron Type C was a single seat French biplane, intended for military evaluation. Two were built in 1911.
The Caudron Type F was a French single seat biplane produced just before World War I. A dozen were bought by China and at least two other examples, with different engines, competed in 1913, coming first and second in the biplane category of the cross-country race at Reims. Flown by Pierre Chanteloup, one was the first biplane to loop-the-loop.
The Caudron Type D was a French pre-World War I single seat, twin-boom tractor biplane, a close but slightly smaller relative of the two seat Caudron Type C. More than a dozen were completed, one exported to the United Kingdom, where they may also have been licence built, and three to China.
The Caudron Type E two seat trainer was a larger and more powerful development of the Type C. Two or three were bought by the French military and one by the Royal Navy just before World War I but its sales were overtaken by the superior Type G.