Rouleurs and Penguins... aircraft that were never meant to fly

[Stargazer]

Towards the end of World War One, a new concept appeared in France, the so-called "rouleurs" (literally, "rollers"). The idea was to turn aircraft into non-flyable trainers by either clipping their wings or removing them altogether. Future pilots would perform starting the engine and taxiing, then prepare for flight as if in a real airplane, except the lack of lifting surfaces prevented them from taking off. The system was crude, to say the least, and also dangerous, since the engine power remained the same, and accidents could happen, notably the infamous "nose-over".

During the 1930s, a new type of "rouleurs" appeared. They were designed as such from the start. Some of them had the features of proper flyers, but not sufficient engine power for takeoff, while others were clunky designs that would never have enabled to fly, even with the proper engines. In England and America, such non-flying machines were frequently called "Penguins", since they were birds who could not fly... The Cycloplane Co. of Los Angeles, which also produced flying types, offered a non-flying model as early as 1930, powered by a 25 hp Cleone engine. While such power was enough to power some actual aircraft, the Cycloplane didn't have sufficient wing area for it to take off.

In France, a man named Pierre Gémy was the first to propose such a design in 1934, which he called a "Monorouleur" because it had only one central main wheel with two smaller ones under the wing tips, not touching the ground, reminding one of those little bicycles meant for kids to learn how to ride. Although Gémy's Monorouleur was built, there is no evidence that its 14-hp 2-cylinder Harley engine was ever installed.

Two years later, Pierre Mauboussin came up with his own "Rouleur", a design which would probably have been flightworthy with enough power, except it used only a 17-hp Aubier & Dunne V2D "Channel" type and was therefore too heavy to fly on such limited power. Mauboussin had previously voiced the fact that he didn't believe in low-cost flying; he also expressed his disapproval of amateur construction, considering it too dangerous; that being said, he conceived his "Rouleur" as a learning tool for both building and flying, which was okay with him since there was little risk for the builder if construction was flawed. His idea was that flying clubs and schools, even individuals, could purchase the plans and detailed documentation and build their own.

It is widely claimed that a single example was built by Fouga in Aire-sur-l'Adour and exhibited at the 1936 Paris Salon, except there doesn't seem to be any photo or even textual proof to back it up. Most likely, the concept was exposed at the Grand Palais, but in the form of drawings and perhaps a scale model. The first recorded machine (n° 01) was produced by the Section d'Aviation Populaire de la Région Nazairienne, better known as C.A.P.R.N, and came out in January 1937. It is also said that a handful of others were produced in other places, but I haven't been able to find anything about them yet. At any rate, there can't have been more than a dozen in all — probably much less.

The last known, and ultimate, non-flying aircraft that I could find was Volmer S. Jensen's J-16, aptly called the "Penguin". It was produced by California Aero Glider in 1944, and no less than 250 examples were built, with several produced and delivered to the U. S. Army on an experimental order.​

I'm sure there were many other types of "Rouleurs" and "Penguins" all over the world! If you know more such types, please share them with us here!

 

[avion ancien]

There was, of course, the Kronfeld Drone Trainer which was available in short wing (non-flying) or long wing (flying) form. The attached images depict both the latter and the former.

 

[avion ancien]

About nine years ago I posted the following on another forum in a topic concerning the Southdown Gliding Club:

Even in the latter 1930s, much initial flying training for glider pilots was undertaken in single seater open frame 'primary' machines and took the form of controlled downhill 'slides' - which today might be described as 'ground effect' flying at an altitude measured in single digit feet. The advantage of this method was that the pupil got some experience of controlling the glider whilst airborne but at an altitude at which, if things went wrong, usually the consequences were not too serious for either the pilot or the glider. Prior to the flight the instructor told the pupil what to do; the glider was then launched using a bungee cord catapult; and the pupil tried to both remember and implement what he/she had been told. Not infrequently, particularly at the inception of a pilot's training, it ended in tears, slight injuries, damaged pride and the glider being hauled back to the club workshop for remedial work. There were dual control gliders, permitting flight training of a pupil in company of an instructor, but such were more the exception than the rule. Thus many gliding clubs looked to alternative methods of ab intitio training - rather like putting a learner driver into a simulator for a number of hours before he/she has his/her first tuition in a car and on the road. In 1937 the Southdown Gliding Club were looking at such methods of giving initial, ground based training to aspiring glider pilots. The indefatigable secretary of the club, Mr York Bramble, was the driving force behind this. As early as 1931 he had designed and built the 'Donkey Trainer' (sadly I've found neither a description nor a photograph of this curiously named beast which, apparently, was exhibited at the Glider Exhibition of that year). However from that he developed the 'Auto Trainer' which, in September 1937, was about to be put into commission by the club in order to provide safe self-tuition and to relieve the primary training gliders from extensive use for ground sliding and thus increasing their availability for pupils who had advanced to a stage in their training at which 'airborne' meant an altitude significantly in excess of that achieved by the ground sliders!

According to an essay entitled 'Early History of the Southdown Gliding Club', written by Mr York Bramble in 1965 and which appears on the club's website, the ground trainer comprised the fuselage of a BAC VII sailplane powered by a 500cc BSA motorcycle engine and employed a propeller designed by the club's ground engineer, Mr G.A.Little. One assumes that, although no specific mention of this is made, it also had wings and tail feathers. Otherwise it would have been useless in providing pupils with ground experience of the operation of a glider's flying controls. But assuming that it was so equipped, the curious thing is that, judging by Mr York Bramble's description of his 'Auto Trainer', it almost replicated the BAC Planette/Drone of 1933 (albeit four years later) - except that the Planette employed a 600cc Douglas engine and flew. However in 1936, towards the end of the BAC lineage, Lowe-Wylde's successor, Robert Kronfeld, came up with the idea of a ground trainer loosely based on the Drone. Curious hardly describes it! It had the open fuselage frame, akin to that of a primary glider, on which was mounted a pusher engine. Its flying surfaces were primitive - no doubt deliberately so, in order to prevent the over enthusiastic pupil actually getting the beast to leave the ground - comprising of stub wings (apparently without ailerons), mounted outboard of a one piece spar, plus elevators and rudder astern. Not a success, even at the lowly price of £195, only one was built. But did it inspire Mr York Bramble to build his apparently more Planette like 'Auto Trainer'? Ultimately Kronfeld developed his Ground Trainer into the flyable 'Drone Trainer' (which was no more successful). I've no reason to think that Mr York Bramble's creation evolved in similar manner. So maybe it confined itself to being driven, like some child's miniature motorcycle, around a grassy field on the South Downs generating a high pitched whine like a wasp in a jar! I'd love to see a photograph of it. But I doubt that ever I will.

 

[Arjen]

This thread touches on the subject:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/u-s-military-monoplanes-in-wwi.28733/#post-301863

 

[Stargazer]

This thread touches on the subject:

https://www.secretprojects.co.uk/threads/u-s-military-monoplanes-in-wwi.28733/#post-301863

Thanks Arjen for pointing out that thread, which indeed contains stuff on the subject.
I'm reproducing here the Penguin (no pun intended) book item on the Morane-Saulnier MS.12 Rouleur.
I took the liberty to edit the scan by adding the letter "u" in "rouleur" that was missing.

 

[Stargazer]

Continuing on the subject, here is what I have on the Breese Penguin of 1917-18.

It was produced by the Breese Aircraft Corp. of Farmingdale, Long Island, N. Y., founded by James Breese. Note that NASM claims it was Sidney S. Breese, the man who designed the S. S. Pierce Sporting Tractor in 1916, but it's probably a mistake. Perhaps both Breeses were relatives and associates? (the earlier S. S. Pierce Aeroplane Co. was located in Southhampton, N. Y.). At any rate, that company had nothing to do with the famous Breese company of the 1930s, which was created by Vance Breese of San Francisco, Calif.



The Breese Penguin was a non-flying single-seat open-cockpit mid-wing monoplane with 28hp Lawrance A-3 engine, initially meant for low-flying training, but used as a ground trainer. Designed along the lines of a French Blériot. but with short wings, only five of the 301 examples built for the U. S. Army were actually used, the others being stored, then scrapped after the war.



A metallic frame was apparently fitted as an afterthought to prevent accidents in case the aircraft flipped over.



Note how different the Penguin looked in period advertisements below!

 

[riggerrob]

Fast forward to 1980 in Lithuania and they set up a childrens' flying school by laying out a triangle of tow cables in a big field. The winch operator controls speed and altitude, limiting how much damage junior pilots can do to their primary gliders. Note these are new construction primary gliders with frames made of aluminum tubes.
Alternately, on windy days, they prop up a de-feathered glider on a universal joint and let junior pilots play with the stick and rudder to learn the basics of steering a basic glider.
This could also be done with de-feathered ultra-lights by removing enough fabric to prevent them from flying too high.

 

[avion ancien]

Here's a variation on the theme, the Whitlet Hoverplane, which briefly operated on the roof of Selfridge's Department Store, Oxford Street, London, in 1932. The attached is from the 25 March 1932 issue of Flight magazine.