Breguet's Pre-1914 Chalenge #126

[Rbailey]

I think this one will be slightly easier.

The scoreboard at the end of Challenge #125 :GLÜCK II,1911.

22.40 Rbailey
17.20 Varese2002
13.80 aerohydro
12.20 Aquilius
8.00 richard B
7.30 matte_kudasai
6.90 Rod_Filan
6.00 Cruze
6.00 Flamingo
6.00 YavorD
5.50 Airarticles
**************
(those above this section must wait 12 hours before answering,
those below - and everyone else - may answer immediately)
**************
3.30 berman
3.00 Lodzermensch
3.00 joegertler
2.00 sobrien
2.00 Doc
1.10 Froggy
1.00 paolomiana
0.40 Wind In The Wires
0.20 Willi Von Klugermann

Breguet's Pre-1914 Aircraft Challenge

The rules of engagement:

1. The thread title must be "Bréguet's Pre-1914 ID Challenge #......".
2. The score board, link and rules must be copied to the beginning of each thread, so that we know where we are. The score board and the correct answer to the challenge must also be placed at end of each thread.
3. The flying object must have been dreamt up before 1914 (no limit backwards in time ....).
4. There are no limits to the flying object for the pre-1914 series. There is no ruling that it must be flown, or completely built.
5. Machines which exist only as 'paper', that is absolutely no material has been cut to construct it, are excluded from this ID Challenge.
6. The picture / drawing must show as much of the flying object as possible, but views showing the machine 'incomplete' are possible (with discretion).
7. Challenges which depict a machine already earlier presented are disqualified.
8. If there is any doubt as to the eligibility of a flying object for the challenge details should be PM'd to Breguet BEFORE the object is submitted.
9. Once someone has got 5 correct answers under their belt they belong to the ROYALTY. Once they belong to the ROYALTY they must wait 12hrs after the posting of the new challenge before they can post an answer.
10. To be eligible for correct ID an answer must include at least one characteristic of the aircraft that helped in its identification.
11. The first person to ID the challenge correctly gets to post the next challenge. If this can not be done for any reason Breguet himself will post the next challenge.
12. If a ROYALTY gives the correct answer too early, the challenge is over, he gets no point but has to post the next one. In lieu of the fact that the "novices" have in effect been "cheated" of their "exclusive" time that next post should be a relatively easy one. Anyone repeating the correct answer at the right time gets neither a point nor the right to post the next challenge.
13. The final arbitrator in relation to questions about the rules will be Breguet.

[Varese2002]

This machine is identified as the Fity Monoplane, a 1911 US machine. This monoplane had foldings wings and the idea was to drive the machine then as a car on the ground.
The machine can be 'easily' identified by the elaborate 4-wheel undercarriage and the gigantic tailskid. The machine probably did not fly.

Information on this machine is very scarce indeed, nothing in the Thesaurus of the NASM, nothing in Aerofiles. Nothing in the US Patents (probably the folding wing construction was patented], nothing in NY Times, almost everywhere nothing.

Although the machine is always identified as the Fity monoplane in several books, I have the suspicious that something is amiss here.

Cheers

Kees

[Rbailey]

It is interesting that there are so few references to this machine, or to Fity, assuming that is the name of the designer, considering that it was displayed in a pretty active aviation area. There seems to be mention of it in WWI Aero, Feb 1984, but I don't have access to that - perhaps someone does. (Also interesting how many times "fity" comes up on a web search as a mis-spelled "fifty".) There doesn't seem to be any drive mechanism for the wheels, so if it was intended to drive in on the road, was it going to use the propeller? And what was the purpose of that gigantic tail skid?

At any rate, point and next challenge to Kees.

The scoreboard at the end of Challenge #1265 :Fity Folding Wing Monoplane

22.40 Rbailey
18.20 Varese2002
13.80 aerohydro
12.20 Aquilius
8.00 richard B
7.30 matte_kudasai
6.90 Rod_Filan
6.00 Cruze
6.00 Flamingo
6.00 YavorD
5.50 Airarticles
**************
(those above this section must wait 12 hours before answering,
those below - and everyone else - may answer immediately)
**************
3.30 berman
3.00 Lodzermensch
3.00 joegertler
2.00 sobrien
2.00 Doc
1.10 Froggy
1.00 paolomiana
0.40 Wind In The Wires
0.20 Willi Von Klugermann

[Aquilius]

I have not seen or heard anything of that machine before.
Who is Fity and where did he built this apparatus?

For the tailskid my it be that is was planned to slow the aircraft down while landing? - Like balloonists throw ropes out of their basket.
Just thinking again, this would rather cause a quick nose-over than make landing safer. But doesn't this look like a spring (or two?) where the tailplane meets the skid supporting strut? Could also be in the background.
Maybe you have a clearer picture?


And for the driven wheels I think motive power was provided by the propeller only with these machines at the time. The Grawert "Propeller Prüffahrzeug" and even the Curtiss Autoplane did use the Propeller only.


Cheers

Aquilius

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by Rbailey

--- There seems to be mention of it in WWI Aero, Feb 1984, but I don't have access to that - perhaps someone does. -----

I looked up issue 98 (February 1984) of WW1 Aero and lo there is two pages about the Fity plane and its designer Charles Fity (born 1889). The best thing is that there are eight pictures of the Fity machine all different from the Challenge picture It shows the machine from all angles and with folded and open wings.

The information and pictures came from the Cradle of Aviation Museum in Garden City NY. The have everything there is about Charles Fity, including newspaper cuttings and a tape of an interview done with Charles Fity at the fine old age of 87 (it was done in 1976).

The machine came earlier than given in other books as the machine began grass-cutting in 1907, being completed after the design of Fity by a firm in Long Island City and based at Old Nassau Aerodrome in Garden City. The machine could be steered with the rudder as the rear wheels also turned with the rudder. Propelling on the ground was just by the propeller (unprotected).

The father of Charles Fity was head chief of the Astor Hotel in NYC and he furnished the money to a sum of $ 10,000 (today about half a million !).

It is told that the machine flew on three times for about 15-20 minutes each flight, the final flight at 50 foot height. The third time was disaster, the machine stalled, breaking ribs from the pilot (Charles Fity) and wrecking the propeller (and probably more ...). When he came back the next day, he saw that his father had wrecked the complete machine. This was the end of the Fity aviation saga.

The magazine had the idea that some artist sketches a 3-view drawing of the machine using all the pictures but that never materialized.

Source: WW1 Aero 98 (February 1984) pp. 66-67

As said earlier already, US early aviation history is very scattered. Hopefully one of the US experts has the energy to make a similar volume like the Opdycke for the French pre-1914 machines.

Cheers

Kees