Maurice Percheron Aircraft Prototypes and Projects

[hesham]

Hi,


the French Maurice Percheron designer joined the Donnet company
in 1919,after replacement Denhaut,and began to create a new series
of aircraft,the "DP",consider a mystery in the world of aviation,very
little known info about him;


The P-10 was three engined flying boat,may be a project,P-15 was
three seat flying boat,enlarge version of P-10,powered by four engines,
DP-18 was three seat recce seaplane,does anyone know more ?.


Also in 1923,he created a unmanned drone aircraft Project,may be the
earliest in France,but they were not interested.


http://www.thyssens.com/03notices-bio/percheron_m.php

 

[theponja]

Very interesting. I'd like really to have more information on the DP-18 which really looks like a "Percheron". In Spanish and in French too I think this is the name of a big and strong horse race.

 

[toura]

Bonjour Hesham
From "Aviation magazine International"

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dears Alcides and Toura.

 

[theponja]

Bonjour Hesham
From "Aviation magazine International"

Thanks a lot for the 3d view. Sadly I don't understand French. Does the article indicates something about the construction of the plane? wood, metal?

 

[toura]

Hi Alcides

They explain the mode of construction to have a clean
plane but they don't tell if it's wood or metal !
Bye

 

[hesham]

Hi,


in 1926,and for the competition of Observation and Recce Catapult Launch aircraft,
Percheron submitted a Project to compete; Latham-230,Besson MB.35,Romano R.4,
Levy-Biche LB.4,Gourdou-Leseurre L2,FBA-17HL-1 and Villiers Vil.11.


Does anyone hear about it before ?.

 

[Kdmoo]

Here is a larger photo I had in the archive.

 

[hesham]

Anther drawing to DP-18;

http://www.avia-it.com/act/biblioteca/periodici/PDF%20Riviste/Ala%20d'Italia/L'ALA%20D'ITALIA%201925%2006.pdf

 

[hesham]

From Aerophile 1917,

it's not be clear if those four concepts were a real Projects to Mr. Maurice Percheron,specially he had many unknown designs ?.

 

[hesham]

From TU 211,

what was this Percheron Project of 30 passenger three engines
of 1919,maybe it was DP-16 ?.

 

[hesham]

From Aerophile 1917,

it's not be clear if those four concepts were a real Projects to Mr. Maurice Percheron,specially he had many unknown designs ?.

I think I can solve this mystery,

maybe those designations were P.11.P.12,P.13 & P.14 ?,because
we know already P.10 & P.15.

 

[Aubi]

No, those seems to be just visualisations of different arrangement of floats. The're also too old-school (and old) to be P.11-14. P.10 is from late 1918, by then the French moved avay from the Voisin-like construction of the first machine.

 

[hesham]

No my dear Aubi,

the beginning of study was from 1917/18,so it was possible
they were them,so we can say;

P.10 was a three engined high seas flying boat,in total powered
of 1100 hp engines,improved DD.10
P.11 ? maybe a single seat biplane small seaplane,powered by one
pusher engine,Project
P.12 ? maybe a two-seat biplane seaplane,with one tractor engine
and had one central main float under the fuselage,and two float
under the wing,Project
P.13 ? maybe a two-seat biplane seaplane,powered by two engines
in tractor position,Project
P.14 ? maybe a two-seat biplane seaplane,powered by single engines
in tractor position,Project
P.15 was enlarge version of P.10,with enclosed cabin to accommodated
a 12 passenger,but powered by four 450 hp Renault engines
P.16 or DP.16 ? maybe was a developed version of P.15,powered by
three engines,and could accommodated 30 passenger,1920 Project
P.17 or DP.17 ? maybe a unmanned drone and radio controlled
biplane,1923,Project
P.18 or DP.18 was a three-seat recce sesquiplane seaplane,powered by
one 400 hp Lorraine 12 Db engine,1923
P.19 or DP.19 ? maybe a observation and recce catapult launch seaplane,
intended for 1924/25 competition

 

[Aubi]

First flight of DD.10 was in 24th April 1918, as your source said P. 10 was it's three-engined development. That firmly puts it in 1918. It was built during the second half of 1918. If those pictured machines are real projects, they came before P.10 (and they look older), and to me they look not like real projects but like visualisations of various configurations based on real airplanes (Farman or Voisin first, Curtiss JN or Standard J second).
By the way since DD.10 is a company designation that was used retroactively in the mid 1920s, P.10 and P.15 were possibly also used retroactively (French Navy named DD.10 as "Donnet-Denhaut Hispano-Suiza 400 ch bimoteur").

 

[hesham]

My dear Aubi,

I know that,but Mr. Percheron had started designing this concepts
in 1917,and when he joined Donnet,he took his ideas for him,and
he already developed P.10 at first then offer these series to be built
by French Navy,and no order made them just a Projects,but he hadn't
any source to declare about them before 1918,only after co-operated
with new company,that's logical.

 

[hesham]

From TU magazine,an article about unmanned airplane;

In the aeronautical field, Percheron replaced Denhaut at the head of
Donnet's study office at the end of the first World War. He realized
there 1918 the three-engined DP-10 which remained prototype
stadium and the four-engine DP-15 who did not fly. But devoid of
any state order, the firm filed for bankruptcy.Percheron then joined
the Establishment military aeronautics center. In 1921 he published a
book on flying airplanes at distance using the TSF and became a
pioneer of unmanned aircraft. He worked on this subject with the
SECAT (Society for Studies and Construction of Telemecanique,
headquartered at Neuilly sur Seine) in collaboration with the
captain Max Boucher, administrator SECAT delegate. Between January
and June 1923 were carried out a series of tests with a Voisin device
on the aerodrome of Villesauvage, near Etampes. An electrical control
device using buttons, comparable to that of an elevator,had been
installed. Through electrical relays, we acted in this way on stabilizers
of the aircraft. For the normal navigation, automatic stabilization was
ensured by a group of Sperry gyroscopes that operated the aircraft using servo motors.

A horobarometric device, obtained by the combination
of a barograph and of a chronograph, made it possible to automatically perform a evolution program set in advance,both at altitude and in direction. departure automatic was ensured by means of an anemometer which,
when the speed of take-off was reached, the current was drifting
on the servo motor and put the tail unit in the climb position. The
landing was ensured by a pole for under the plane and terminated by
a metal shoe which, in contact with the ground, closed a electrical circuit
and straightened the plane after switching off the engine. A pilot at
board checked the correct operation of the set and the tests proved
to be conclusive. The work continued in 1924 under contract 75/4 for
the development of an autopilot while Percheron imagined the replacement of the pilot by a TSF device in order to control the device remotely. The
editor does not know if further essays were made.