| Type O | |
|---|---|
 | |
| The Caudron O at the 1914 Fete d'Aviation, held at the Longchamps racecourse, Paris | |
| Role | Sports aircraft |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Caudron |
| Designer | Gaston Caudron |
| First flight | January–February 1914 |
| Number built | 1 |
The Caudron Type O was a French single seat air racing biplane first flown in 1914.
The Type O was a single bay biplane with no stagger. Both wings had two wooden spars and were fabric covered. On each side there were two pairs of parallel interplane struts joining the spars, one outboard and the other passing through the fuselage between the centre sections. These placed the upper wing well above the fuselage and the lower one a little below it. The usual crossed diagonal pairs of flying wires braced the bays. The Type O used wing warping rather than ailerons for lateral control. [1]
When it first flew in the early weeks of 1914, it was powered by a semi-cowled Anzani 6-cylinder radial. [2] There were two versions of this engine with different displacements; l'Aérophile states a power output of 45 hp (34 kW), [1] corresponding to the smaller version, but Hauet quotes 50–60 hp (37–45 kW), [2] that of the larger engine. By May 1914 it was flying with an uncowled 100 hp (75 kW) Anzani 10-cylinder radial. [2]
The fuselage was recycled from one of Caudron's earlier monoplanes, the very similar Types M and N, and was built around an ash lattice girder of square section which tapered to the rear. Stringers, stood off from the girder, gave the fabric covered fuselage a more rounded cross-section. An open, single seat cockpit was placed under the wing trailing edge. [1] When it first flew the Type O had an almost square, upright vertical tail with little or no fin and a large rudder reaching down to the keel. The horizontal tail, narrow and with a straight, unswept leading edge was mounted on top of the fuselage so the rudder operated in an elevator cut-out. Later in the year, the aircraft, now with the 100 hp Anzani and a modified upper forward fuselage, had a very different tail with a larger fin which had a long, curving leading edge, its contour continuing into that of a broad, deep rudder. There may also have been wing modifications as well; l'Aéroplane describes the upper and lower wings as having the same span, whereas in Hauet's account the span of the upper wing was the greater. [2]
The Type O had an all-steel tailskid undercarriage, with a pair of spoked mainwheels on split axles hinged from the centre of a transverse rod mounted on four longitudinal V-struts, arranged as an inverted W from the inner, under-fuselage interplane struts. Rubber springs damped the movement of the outer ends and wheels on landing. [1]
Early in its life the Type O acquired the nickname of "The soap box". In May 1914, re-engined and with its new tail, it was flown by Chanteloup in a race at the Bois de Boulogne; in June it flew in Vienna. In September, a month after the outbreak of World War I, it was delivered to the military. [2]
Data from Hauet (2001) [2]
General characteristics
Performance
The Perry Beadle T.1 was a single-seat, single engine biplane built and flown in the United Kingdom in 1913. In 1914 it flew with a more powerful engine and other modifications as the Perry Beadle T.2, which was acquired by the Royal Navy Air Service at the outbreak of World War I.
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.27 was a French biplane, a two-seat basic trainer which also competed successfully in the 1920s.
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.65 was a single seat biplane floatplane designed and built in France in 1922. Only one was completed.
The Caudron C.22 was a French twin engine night bomber built in 1917. It did not reach production.
The Caudron Types M and N were small, fast French sports monoplanes, flown 1911–13 under a wide range of engine powers. There was also a military version.
The Hydroaéroplane Caudron-Fabre, (Caudron-Fabre), was a French amphibious seaplane which competed in the 1912 Monaco event. It was one of the first true amphibians, able to take-off from water and touch down on land.
The Caudron Type H was a collective name for three different Caudron designs of 1912-3. One of these was an amphibious three seat biplane built for the French military. Two were completed, one appearing at the Paris Aero Salon in November 1912.
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 K was a French floatplane with a very powerful, twenty cylinder radial engine in pusher configuration. It took part in a French seaplane competition in 1913, but was lost in a take-off accident during the competition.
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 Canteloup, 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.