Caudron C.74

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Caudron C.74
Caudron C.74 L'Aeronautique December,1922.jpg
RoleTen seat airliner
National origin France
Manufacturer Caudron
DesignerPaul Deville
First flight1922
Number built1

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.

Biplane airplane wing configuration with two vertically stacked main flying surfaces

A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While a biplane wing structure has a structural advantage over a monoplane, it produces more drag than a similar unbraced or cantilever monoplane wing. Improved structural techniques, better materials and the quest for greater speed made the biplane configuration obsolete for most purposes by the late 1930s.

France Republic with mainland in Europe and numerous oversea territories

France, officially the French Republic, is a country whose territory consists of metropolitan France in Western Europe and several overseas regions and territories. The metropolitan area of France extends from the Mediterranean Sea to the English Channel and the North Sea, and from the Rhine to the Atlantic Ocean. It is bordered by Belgium, Luxembourg and Germany to the northeast, Switzerland and Italy to the east, and Andorra and Spain to the south. The overseas territories include French Guiana in South America and several islands in the Atlantic, Pacific and Indian oceans. The country's 18 integral regions span a combined area of 643,801 square kilometres (248,573 sq mi) and a total population of 67.3 million. France, a sovereign state, is a unitary semi-presidential republic with its capital in Paris, the country's largest city and main cultural and commercial centre. Other major urban areas include Lyon, Marseille, Toulouse, Bordeaux, Lille and Nice.

Contents

Design and development

The C.74 was a large biplane, powered by four 224 kW (300 hp) Hispano-Suiza 8Fb water-cooled, upright V-8 engines mounted in two pairs, each pair with one engine in tractor configuration and the other as a pusher. It was built from wood and steel and covered in plywood and fabric. [1] An enclosed cabin could accommodate ten passengers. [2]

Tractor configuration arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face forward

An aircraft constructed with a tractor configuration has the engine mounted with the airscrew in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air, as opposed to the pusher configuration, in which the airscrew is behind and propels the aircraft forward. Through common usage, the word "propeller" has come to mean any airscrew, whether it actually propels or pulls the plane.

Pusher configuration arrangement of propellers on an aircraft to face rearward

In a vehicle with a pusher configuration, the propeller(s) are mounted behind their respective engine(s). According to British aviation author Bill Gunston, a "pusher propeller" is one mounted behind the engine, so that the drive shaft is in compression.

Plywood manufactured wood panel made from thin sheets of wood veneer

Plywood is a material manufactured from thin layers or "plies" of wood veneer that are glued together with adjacent layers having their wood grain rotated up to 90 degrees to one another. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards which includes medium-density fibreboard (MDF) and particle board (chipboard).

The C.74 had rectangular plan wings, with the upper plane slightly greater in span than the lower. It was a three bay biplane without stagger, with two sets of parallel, vertical interplane struts outboard and two sets of leaning parallel struts inboard on each wing. The latter met on the lower wing but diverged upwards in a narrow V, forming a cradle for an engine pair. Cabane struts joined the wing centre section to the upper fuselage longerons. [1]

Stagger (aeronautics)

In aviation, stagger is the relative horizontal fore-aft positioning of stacked wings in a biplane, triplane, or multiplane.

The airliner had a flat sided fuselage with two open cockpits in tandem for the crew, one ahead of the wing leading edge and the other close behind but under the wing. The cabin had five flat side windows, arranged in a group of three in front of the cockpits and two behind, plus a curved window in the cylindrical nose. Aft of the last window was a port side cabin entry door. At the rear, the C.74's fin was triangular and broad, carrying a vertically edged balanced rudder that reached down to the keel. The tailplane was mounted on top of the fuselage and the elevators required a cut-out for rudder movement. [1]

Fuselage aircraft main body which is the primary carrier of crew, passengers, and payload

The fuselage is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, and cargo. In single-engine aircraft it will usually contain an engine, as well, although in some amphibious aircraft the single engine is mounted on a pylon attached to the fuselage, which in turn is used as a floating hull. The fuselage also serves to position control and stabilization surfaces in specific relationships to lifting surfaces, which is required for aircraft stability and maneuverability.

Cockpit area, usually near the front of an aircraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft

A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a pilot controls the aircraft.

Tandem arrangement in which people, machines, or animals are in line behind one another facing forward

Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which a team of machines, animals or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction.

Its landing gear was essentially of the tailskid type. On each side, vertical V-form legs from the lower fuselage longerons and from under the meeting points of the two engine support struts carried a single axle with a mainwheel at either end. In addition, a third axle, similarly mounted from the fuselage but forward of the wing, carried a pair of slightly smaller wheels intended to prevent nose-overs. On each lower wing a pair of backward trailing thin skids, attached below each of the two rear outboard interplane struts and lightly braced from the trailing edge extended well behind, giving protection against accidental ground contact. [1]

Landing gear aircraft part which supports the aircraft while not in the air

Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft and may be used for either takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally both. It was also formerly called alighting gear by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin Company.

Trailing edge

The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge rejoins. Essential flight control surfaces are attached here to control the direction of the departing air flow, and exert a controlling force on the aircraft. Such control surfaces include ailerons on the wings for roll control, elevators on the tailplane controlling pitch, and the rudder on the fin controlling yaw. Elevators and ailerons may be combined as elevons on tailless aircraft.

The C.74 was first flown in 1922 and seemed likely to sell well. Entered into Le Grand Prix des Avions des Transports (The Great Prize for Transport Aircraft) competition held in early November 1922, it was well regarded by the jury. On 14 November, as it took off from Le Bourget, bolts securing one of the propellers failed and the C.74 crashed killing all three crew members, the pilot Alphonse Poirée and mechanics Courcy and Bovillier. No more were built. [1]

Alphonse Poirée

Alphonse Poirée, was a French aviator, fighter of the First World War, and test pilot after the war.

Specifications

Data from Hauet (2001) p.175 [1]

General characteristics

Performance

  • Maximum speed: 205 km/h (127 mph; 111 kn)

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References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 6 Hauet, André (2001). Les Avions Caudrons. 1. Outreau: Lela Presse. p. 175. ISBN   2 914017-08-1.
  2. 1 2 "Le Grand Prix des Avions des Transports". L'Aérophile. Vol. 30 no. 23. 1–15 November 1922. pp. 340–342.


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