The Ongoing Mystery Aircraft Thread Part Deux.

[Okami]

Could be, Lefty, or could be not. I think you might have an inkling, though...

[Moses03]

I have posted this somewhat obscure trimotor before. It's all mussels and waffles.:mixedsmi:

[& Co.]

Happy New Year to all! (Slightly belated, sorry)

Pander S4, aka Postjager ?

[lefty]

It is the ill-fated OO-ARM. Renard R-35.

[Okami]

Hi Lefty,

Right again - it is a picture of the Renard R-35 prototype (and sole airframe) OO-ARM, during one of its engine runs.



Alfred Renard, born April 21 1895, was an aircraft designer, who had previously worked at the Stampe-Vertongen works, where he had designed the RSV series of biplanes, the fore-runners of the SV-4. In 1925, he founded his own company which built both engines and aircraft.

The R-35 was one of his most ambitious projects, a passenger plane with a pressure cabin, the first such aircraft ever built. It was designed to carry 20 passengers and a crew of 3, and according to the calculations, its three Rhone-Gnome engines would allow the aircraft to fly 1800 km at a cruising speed of 250 km/h with its full cargo. The aircraft also had a maximum speed of 435 km/h, and could climb to 30000 ft. Naturally, Renard hoped Sabena would purchase his design.



However, it remained with calculations: during what should have been a fast taxi run on April 1st 1938, test pilot George Van Damme, a stunt pilot and instructor with the Antwerp Aviation Club, decided to try and fly the aircraft instead. It is unclear what happened next - it is thought he retracted the flaps too soon - but the aircraft stalled moments after becoming airborne and crashed, killing the test-pilot. Whatever the case, it is clear that Van Damme did not have permission to take the aircraft to the air, as not all design calculations had been completed yet.

The crash ended Renard's ambitious project. Instead, he tried to concentrate on his military projects, the R-36 and R-38 fighters. The R-36 (roughly equivalent to the Hawker Hurricane) was cancelled in turn after a fatal crash in 1939 after which the Belgian Military Aviation purchased licence rights for the Hurricane, while the sole R-38 prototype was captured by the Germans after the invasion in 1940. After the War, Renard rejoined his former colleague Stampe to set up the Stampe-Renard factories: together they built the post-war SV-4 trainers, its intended SR-7 replacement (one built - preserved at the Brussels Air Museum), and components for the Belgian Air Force's CF-100 and F-104G. Another attempt of Renard to design a pressurised airliner for Sabena, the SR-45 with interchangable passenger/cargo cabin module, never left the drawing board, the airline purchasing the DC-4 instead.

Alfred Renard died on June 20th 1988 at the age of 93, as a result of fatal injuries incurred in a traffic accident 10 days earlier.

[lefty]

Great stuff again, Okami.

Here's a floater that isn't Belgian........

Although I can't find it in a search, I've a feeling I may have posted this before.

[Moses03]

The hills are alive with the sound of a Hopfner HA-11/33 amphibian.

Yann- Good to hear from you!

[lefty]

Kevin, your was , so .

[& Co.]

Kevin: good to hear from you too. I'm a regular passer-by but seldom have time to post now, let alone research about planes! Maybe when I'm retired

Nice to see you're all OK and kicking, folks. You're all doing a great job keeping this fascinating thread alive.

[Moses03]

Here is a real oddball floater-

[lefty]

Dearie me - did this thing fly ????

[Moses03]

I'm not sure. Let's pretend it at least made a short hop...

[Moses03]

It's from Western Europe. Co-designed by a very famous 1920's Aviator.

It's in the appendix along with the prototype.

Rgr that. I see it in there now. :redf:

[Hurricane91]

I'm not sure. Let's pretend it at least made a short hop...

It must have been fast. Look at that high-speed airfoil!

[Moses03]

I think it was going to be used for an ocean crossing. The famous Aviator later went missing in the late 1920's.

[Ferry_vO]

The famous Aviator later went missing in the late 1920's.

Apparently 1927 was a bad year for aviators...

Nothing found on your flying toolshed though!

[Moses03]

Yup, he disappeared in 1927. The tool shed was a 1923 build.

[srgalahad]

sounds like the "famous aviator" was Charles Nungesser (was Francois Coli ever famous before his disappearance?) but I cannot find a reference to the 'tool shed'

[Moses03]

Nungesser is correct...

[Moses03]

I don't know enough about this one to keep rolling along with it. It is the Nungesser Seaplane or "Duck" as reported on the net elsewhere.

Here is a much easier one. A handsome trimotor-

[lefty]

Well I think you are wanting us to say Stinson U here, but my deeply suspicious mind tells me I am walking into a Texan trap.......

[Moses03]

No trap. U got it. (Beer icons not working for me sorry!)

Over to the Scotsman-

[lefty]

OK - stll trying to find something on that blasted Nungesser - I think they must have a different Internet in the Mid-West !

Here's one that will be meat and drink to Wout, but maybe not for everyone else......

[wout]

Hi Mike! :salute:
The sole unique one-off prototype M-3 Bonzo by Mraz (formerly Benes-Mraz)?

[lefty]

Yes, I knew you would get it -- I have it as Orlican but doubtless you'll tell me all about that !