Breguet's Pre-1914 Challenge #453

[aerohydro]

A slightly unfamiliar view of this airship. Two previous Challenges, both aerostatical in nature, connect to this Challenge. This airship was picked, mainly so that I can do a "show-and-tell" later on. More in due course.

Scoreboard at the start of Challenge #453:

88.50 Rbailey
86.20 aerohydro
52.95 Varese2002
41.20 Aquilius
32.80 Rod_Filan
29.45 richard B
26.55 Tork1945
**************
(those above this section must wait 24 hours before answering)
**************
10.40 Airarticles
9.20 Doc
8.50 Lodzermensch
7.70 ermeio
7.30 matte_kudasai
7.30 YavorD
6.30 AnYun
6.00 Cruze
6.00 Flamingo
5.90 Froggy
5.00 sobrien
**************
(those immediately above this section must wait 12 hours before answering.)
**************
4.20 Wind In The Wires
3.30 berman
3.00 joegertler
3.00 sodium
2.60 Mattyboy
1.00 matthewk
1.00 Catfish
1.00 dhc2pilot
1.00 paolomiana
1.00 Tripehound Flyboy
0.20 EricGoedkoop

Previous challenges are here: Breguet's Pre-1914 Aircraft Challenge.

The rules are:

1. The thread title must be "Breguet'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 received 5 (five) points, they belong to ROYALTY, and must wait 12hrs after the posting of the new challenge before they can post an answer. Once someone has achieved 25 (twentyfive) points, they must wait 24hrs after the original post before being able to post an answer.
10. In order to correctly identify the flying object, an answer must mention a characteristic of the design which has helped with its identification, or include a reference to a publication or website, which will confirm the attribution.
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.

[Rod_Filan]

No one?

Skipping the long introduction...

The original Akron during its November 1911 trials at Atlantic City, New Jersey.

This Vaniman-Goodyear airship attempted a trans-Atlantic crossing from Atlantic City in 1912 but exploded at 500 feet soon after its ascent over the inlet, killing the five crewmen aboard, including Melvin Vaniman and his brother Calvin. Identified by its semi-rigid keel design, box-tail rudder and placement of the four, 2-bladed propellers.

The 100th anniversary of the first Akron disaster was last month on July 2nd.



Cheers

[aerohydro]

Hello All

I thought this would have been answered within the 24 hour time period, but there you go ...

It's apt that Rod was the one who finally did answer, as the photo used for this Challenge comes from his website.(!) It's one of a half dozen or so images that he has of the "Akron" online:

The Vaniman "Akron" was, effectively, the successor to the Wellman "America" airship, which had tried - and failed - to make a trans-Atlantic crossing in October, 1910. Vaniman's goal, in 1912, of flying across the Atlantic was simply audacious. To place it into context, today it would be analogous to someone planning to go into low earth orbit (hello to Elon Musk and SpaceX). Here are the two previous Challenges that connect to this machine:

Challenge #288 - Wellman-Vaniman “America”

Challenge #324 - The Vaniman “Atlantic No.1” model

Here's the "show-and-tell" that I wanted to do:

Some actual pieces of the Vaniman "Akron"!! Note that the tag attributing them to Wellman's airship is incorrect. I purchased these at the start of the year. Normally, I'm not in the market for true early aviation memorabilia, but this was simply too tempting to pass up!

Paul

[aerohydro]

Answer: the 1912 Vaniman "Akron" airship.

Scoreboard at the end of Challenge #453:

88.50 Rbailey
86.20 aerohydro
52.95 Varese2002
41.20 Aquilius
33.80 Rod_Filan
29.45 richard B
26.55 Tork1945
**************
(those above this section must wait 24 hours before answering)
**************
10.40 Airarticles
9.20 Doc
8.50 Lodzermensch
7.70 ermeio
7.30 matte_kudasai
7.30 YavorD
6.30 AnYun
6.00 Cruze
6.00 Flamingo
5.90 Froggy
5.00 sobrien
**************
(those immediately above this section must wait 12 hours before answering.)
**************
4.20 Wind In The Wires
3.30 berman
3.00 joegertler
3.00 sodium
2.60 Mattyboy
1.00 matthewk
1.00 Catfish
1.00 dhc2pilot
1.00 paolomiana
1.00 Tripehound Flyboy
0.20 EricGoedkoop

[Rod_Filan]

Note that the tag attributing them to Wellman's airship is incorrect.

Nice part. That the previous owner has confused the Akron with the America is a common mistake made even today I suppose. Obviously fabricated for lightness with maximum strength, and its provenance is in line with what one might expect; scavengers flogging bits to tourists along the Boardwalk.

BTW the estimated date of the challenge photo postcard can be verified from its postmark of December 4, 1911 -- postally used exactly one month after what I believe was the maiden flight of the Akron, made on November 4th. At this time I'm not sure if there weren't other flights made in November.


Cheers

[aerohydro]

Originally Posted by Rod_Filan

Obviously fabricated for lightness with maximum strength

The item seems to be made of mild steel, and is bent at the right hand end, presumably due to the trauma of either the crash or the salvage. The strut looks to have been burnt as well, but that could just be the patina that comes with age. What's not that easy to pick out from the photo is that each hole is slightly irregular in shape and size, due to a machinist using a hand file in order to maximise the diameter of each hole.