Sometimes, all of a sudden an old photograph is discovered which depicts a plane which has not been seen before. This is such a case.
The photograph was first submitted
here. The man in front of the triplane / tri-engined machine is Gustave Delabbé, a carpenter-joiner [French: ébéniste-menuisier],who was called in to work on wooden parts of the machine in 1918. Delabbé died in 1960 and the picture is in the possession of his granddaughter.
The machine was constructed just before the armistice and flew succesfully, but after the armistice the whole project was ended. It seems the project was financed by a rich benefactor. This information is from the granddaughter of Delabbé, but cannot be proved till now.
The machine seen on the picture is sort of mini-triplane tri-engined machine, judging by the size of Delabbé. Construction is a classical one, central nacelle with pusher engine and two tailbooms with tractor engines. Engines has not been identified but seem to be radials (no rotaries). Landing gear is special with a large central skid.
As already said, the reference books give nothing on this one. The bringer of this picture on the French site - mimile - has personally browsed the contemporary standard work of de Brunoff (all 735 pages of it !), but to no avail.
Quote:
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Brunoff, Maurice de, and L. Marchis. 1919. L'aéronautique pendant la guerre mondiale. Paris: M. de Brunoff.
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So till now nothing has been found to identify this machine. Please help if you can, with any information you might have.
Cheers
Kees