The Caudron C.74 was a ten-seat, four engine passenger

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

built in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in 1922. It showed promise but the sole prototype crashed fatally in a competition and no more were completed.

Design and development

The C.74 was a large biplane, powered by four Hispano-Suiza 8Fb water-cooled, upright

V-8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder (engine), cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V engine, V configuration. Origins The first known V8 was the Antoinette (manufactu ...

s mounted in two pairs, each pair with one engine in

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

and the other as a pusher. It was built from wood and steel and covered in

plywood Plywood is a composite material manufactured from thin layers, or "plies", of wood veneer that have been stacked and glued together. It is an engineered wood from the family of manufactured boards, which include plywood, medium-density fibreboa ...

and

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, and different types of fabric. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is no ...

. An enclosed cabin could accommodate ten passengers. The C.74 had rectangular plan wings, with the upper plane slightly greater in span than the lower. It was a three bay biplane without stagger, with two sets of parallel, vertical

interplane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s outboard and two sets of leaning parallel struts inboard on each wing. The latter met on the lower wing but diverged upwards in a narrow V, forming a cradle for an engine pair.

Cabane strut In aeronautics, bracing comprises additional structural members which stiffen the functional airframe to give it rigidity and strength under load. Bracing may be applied both internally and externally, and may take the form of struts, which act in ...

s joined the wing centre section to the upper fuselage

longerons In engineering, a longeron or stringer is a load-bearing component of a framework. The term is commonly used in connection with aircraft fuselages and automobile chassis. Longerons are used in conjunction with stringers to form structural frame ...

. The airliner had a flat sided

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

with two open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

s in

tandem Tandem, or in tandem, is an arrangement in which two or more animals, machines, or people are lined up one behind another, all facing in the same direction. ''Tandem'' can also be used more generally to refer to any group of persons or objects w ...

for the crew, one ahead of the wing

leading edge The leading edge is the part of the wing that first contacts the air;Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. alternatively it is the foremost edge of an airfoil sectio ...

and the other close behind but under the wing. The cabin had five flat side windows, arranged in a group of three in front of the cockpits and two behind, plus a curved window in the cylindrical nose. Aft of the last window was a port side cabin entry door. At the rear, the C.74's

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. F ...

was triangular and broad, carrying a vertically edged

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevator (air ...

that reached down to the keel. The

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabilizer, is a small lift (force), lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters ...

was mounted on top of the fuselage and the

elevator An elevator (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

s required a cut-out for rudder movement. Its

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

was essentially of the

tailskid Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Term ...

type. On each side, vertical V-form legs from the lower fuselage longerons and from under the meeting points of the two engine support struts carried a single axle with a mainwheel at either end. In addition, a third axle, similarly mounted from the fuselage but forward of the wing, carried a pair of slightly smaller wheels intended to prevent nose-overs. On each lower wing a pair of backward trailing thin skids, attached below each of the two rear outboard interplane struts and lightly braced from the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

extended well behind, giving protection against accidental ground contact. The C.74 was first flown in 1922 and seemed likely to sell well. Entered into ''Le Grand Prix des Avions des Transports'' (The Great Prize for Transport Aircraft) competition held in early November 1922, it was well regarded by the jury. On 14 November, as it took off from

Le Bourget Le Bourget () is a commune in the northeastern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The commune features Le Bourget Airport, which in turn hosts the Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace (Air and Space Museum). A very ...

, bolts securing one of the

propeller A propeller (often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon a working flu ...

s failed and the C.74 crashed killing all three crew members, the pilot Alphonse Poirée and mechanics Courcy and Bovillier. No more were built.

Specifications

References

{{Caudron aircraft C.077 1920s French airliners Four-engined push-pull aircraft Biplanes Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear