Nennig C-3

[avion ancien]

The Nennig C-3 was built for the 1935 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe but was not ready in time and thus was scratched from the race. The photograph below is the only one I've ever seen of what, in my opinion, was an elegant machine and a quintessentially French racing monoplane design of the mid 1930s. I don't know the original source of the photograph but it and the 'three view' drawing below appear in a post on the pprune forum (q.v. http://www.pprune.org/aviation-history-nostalgia/332082-silhouette-challenge-341.html), where also is given the following technical detail:

Nennig C3
Moteur Régnier R161-01, 6 cyl
en ligne inversé, refroidi par air, compresseur, env.
Initialement prévu pour un moteur Salmson, 12 cyl.
en V inversé, refroidi par air, dérivé du 12 Vars.
.
Un seul construit, presque terminé.

which is said to have been sourced from 'a French forum' (which I have been unable to find). Also mentioned there is:

Nennig C3
One built, almost finished
Registered with the No.4 by his driver Guy Bart
Bonnet not ready in time

and finally it is said there that the Nennig C-3 actually is a Régnier Martinet engined Caudron C.366. Apparently there is a piece on it by Serge Pozzoli in le Fana de l'Aviation of February 1974 (if anyone has copies going back that far). Whether, after failing to be ready in time for the 1935 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe, the Nennig C-3 subsequently was completed and flown, I do not know. Thus I am viewing it as an incomplete and unachieved project - unless others know otherwise!

 

[hesham]

Nice aircraft Avions,


there is many unknown and unbuilt racer aircraft.

 

[toura]

Bonjour "Avion ancien"
YES? I see "le Fana"
The article is for "les Nennig C3 and C5
bYE

 

[toura]

HERE, THE BEGINNING

 

[Grey Havoc]

So it looks like the original Salmson engine (the Salmson 12 C W-12?) was a failure, eventually leading to a Moteur Régnier 6 cylinder engine being installed.

 

[toura]

the end

 

[avion ancien]

Merci, toura. L'article est merveilleux!

Grey Havoc, my understanding from the article is that the Salmson was unavailable and therefore the Régnier was installed in the C-3.

 

[Grey Havoc]

Thanks for the correction.

 

[PhR]

and finally it is said there that the Nennig C-3 actually is a Régnier Martinet engined Caudron C.366.

That's not the case. As you can see attached, the Régnier 'Martinet' is very different from Nennig C-3.
I also attach photos of the Maillet-Nennig MN-A, with Edmond Nennig and André Maillet together. I published the history of this plane in Avions 222 (March-April 2018).

 

[fortrena]

If I may, according to the May 2nd, 1935 issue of L'Auto-Vélo, the Nennig C-3 was to be powered by a supercharged 350 cv Régnier engine. According to the May 9th issue of Les Ailes, Édouard Nennig and his pilot, Guy Bart, had to throw the towel because the engine cowling delivered at the last moment proved to be too short.

The Régnier engine in question was presumably the Régnier 12C-01, a supercharged 12-cylinder inverted V-12 engine theoretically rated at 450 cv at 4 000 m at 3 200 rpm. That engine had two superchargers. Interestingly enough, it might have been possible to use a version of it in conjunction with a 20 mm Hispano-Suiza cannon firing through the propeller shaft.

The Salmson 12 Vars, on the other hand, was a supercharged 12-cylinder inverted V-12 engine theoretically rated at 450 cv at 4 000 m at 3 800 rpm.