• There seems to be an uptick in Political comments in recent months. Those of us who are long time members of the site know that Political and Religious content has been banned for years. Nothing has changed. Please leave all political and religious comments out of the forums.

    If you recently joined the forums you were not presented with this restriction in the terms of service. This was due to a conversion error when we went from vBulletin to Xenforo. We have updated our terms of service to reflect these corrections.

    Please note any post refering to a politician will be considered political even if it is intended to be humor. Our experience is these topics have a way of dividing the forums and causing deep resentment among members. It is a poison to the community. We appreciate compliance with the rules.

    The Staff of SOH

  • Server side Maintenance is done. We still have an update to the forum software to run but that one will have to wait for a better time.

The Ongoing Mystery Aircraft Thread Part Deux.

Gallic bliss, eh? Ah yes, that's enduring a week of temperatures in the upper thirties, when it's nigh on impossible to work outside after 11:00 am, and then, as soon as we get a day in the twenties, spending the best part of it pushing barrow loads of stone from the front of the house to the back in order to tip it into the river to protect the banks from the scouring effect of the winter floods. If that's bliss, then I'll throw myself into the river if someone starts to talk about hard work!

Anyhow, enough of how blissful my day has been. Here's the next offering. An odd piece of kit which is claimed to be a motorglider!

 
Well, I did my homework this time and have prepared for PH's next mystery. :tongue:

Sure enough, in the study materials is the Sablier Type 19 Biplace Motoplaneur of 1936.
 
This one showed up about the time the stock market crashed in the USA. Bad timing! (Apologies for the heavy grain).

K82U0ZV.jpg
 
Hmmm, can't get 'Reply with quote' to work - re BG's note - 'Just for closing this file: I have it as Weymann-Lepère 52 "Aeromobile"....', here is the photo of the card beside the machine at the Salon - maybe some Francophone can tell me about 'Avionine'?

And I have an interest in Moses' grainy growler - as Wallaces are in my family tree, this is the Wallace Touroplane !
 

Attachments

  • weyavi.jpg
    weyavi.jpg
    87.3 KB · Views: 8
OH dear, there's a gremlin afoot - can't even edit my own post properly ! Was just going to add for BG's benefit, re 'Weymann-Lepère' , Jane's 1931 says 'Capt. Lepère has since left the firm'.
 
It's not in my dictionary, so maybe its aircraft number 9? Or a diminutive of avion? - or should that be avionette....
Keith
 
Dev One said:
It's not in my dictionary, so maybe its aircraft number 9? Or a diminutive of avion? - or should that be avionette....
Keith
Click to expand...
Having french as my second language (almost first as my mother was from Nice) I can assure you that there is no such word as "Avionine" in any reliable dictionary.....I think that it could be a neologism of the twenties or thirties by now forgotten (languages do change!)....
Cheers
BG
 
I wonder whether 'Avionine' is a trade name? It appears in this photograph .....



In that context, I'd suggest that the translation is 'Fabrics & Dopes Avionine'. It's a shame that the resolution of the photograph of the WEL-52 at the Paris Salon is not adequate to enable the whole notice to be enlarged sufficiently to appreciate the context in which Avionine is mentioned there.

P.s. now what is the aeroplane that appears in the above photograph ...... !
 
It also apprears that Avionine was a brand of paint used for aircraft in the 1930s. I found this reference to it on a website concerning the Couzinet Arc-en-Ciel;

'Les avions de l'époque étaient peints à l'Avionine, peinture cellulosique avec des paillettes d'aluminium. Cette peinture très légère était réfléchissante pour le soleil, augmentant le confort de l'équipage, c'était important pour l'Arc-en-Ciel qui a beaucoup voyagé sous les tropiques'
 
Now that the forum is acessible again but not permitting previous posts to be edited, here's a reference to Avionine in English. I think it fair to say that the reason why BG and Dev One couldn't find it in their dictionaries is that it was a trade name that, presumably, has subsided into history.

attachment.php
 

Attachments

  • Finishes-Avionine-1924-365.jpg
    Finishes-Avionine-1924-365.jpg
    41.1 KB · Views: 15
Brilliant piece of research by PH there - I am not nearly as well versed in the world of dopes......:mixed-smiley-010:

Happy to let his mystery Avionine customer stand as the next challenge - I am about to disappear for the annual R&R in Madeira, so will be absent for a couple of weeks.

Let's hope the Easyjet skipper is used to the Funchal landing - have any of you RTW challenge men tried it yet ???
 
Would give my back teeth (and they're still my own!) for that particular trip !
 

Attachments

  • aquila.jpg
    aquila.jpg
    74.3 KB · Views: 7
PH thank you for your research, so presumably Avionine was the French equivalent of the British Titanine.
Lefty, have a good R&R in Madeira m'dear (sorry Flanders & Swan)...
Keith
 
My pleasure, Keith.

Yes, it's sad, Mike, that you'll have to make do with an EasyJet A.320 when you could have, albeit in a state of toothless ecstasy, have flown along the western seaboards of Europe and Africa in a veritable Transport of Delight [that's enough Flanders & Swann allusions - ed.] had you been making your journey in the fifties rather than the teens.
 
'all unperforated.......'

Gentlemen, I fear in deference to our cousins abroad, the Flanders and Swann should be shelved for just now !

I suppose the nearest American equivalent would have been the wondrous Tom Lehrer..... Where are those wits nowadays ?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top