The Antoinette IV was an early

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

Design and development

The Antoinette IV was a high-wing aircraft with a

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

of extremely narrow triangular cross-section and a cruciform tail. Power was provided by a

V8 engine A V8 engine is an eight-cylinder piston engine in which two banks of four cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The first V8 engine was produced by the French Antoinette company in 1904, developed and u ...

Léon Levavasseur Léon Levavasseur (8 January 1863 – 26 February 1922) was a French powerplant engineer, aircraft designer and inventor. His innovations included the V8 engine, direct fuel injection, and liquid engine cooling. Primarily associated with ...

's own design driving a paddle-bladed

tractor propeller In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher co ...

. Lateral control was at first effected with large triangular, and shortly afterwards trapezoidal-planform

aileron An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in roll (or movement around ...

s hinged to the trailing edge of the wings, although wing-warping was substituted at an early stage in flight trials, and in this type proved more effective. On 19 February 1909, the Antoinette IV flew at Mourmelon-le-Grand, and on 19 July,

Hubert Latham Arthur Charles Hubert Latham (10 January 1883 – 25 June 1912) was a French aviation pioneer. He was the first person to attempt to cross the English Channel in an aeroplane. Due to engine failure during his first of two attempts to cross ...

attempted to cross the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" ( Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), ( Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Ka ...

in it, covering out of Sangatte before making a forced water landing due to engine failure. On 3 October 1910, Frenchman René Thomas, flying the Antoinette IV, collided with British Army Captain

Bertram Dickson Captain Bertram Dickson RHA (21 December 1873 – 28 September 1913) was a pioneer Scottish airman and the first British serviceman to qualify as a pilot. His exploits in the air, watched by Winston Churchill and Lord Kitchener, indirect ...

by ramming his

Farman III The Farman III, also known as the Henry Farman 1909 biplane, was an early French aircraft designed and built by Henry Farman Gastambide-Mengin monoplane __NOTOC__ The Gastambide-Mengin monoplane (later Gastambide-Mengin I, Gastambide-Mengin II and Antoinette II) was an early French experimental aircraft designed by Léon Levavasseur, and was the first aircraft built by the Antoinette company. The ...

Antoinette III Tha Antoinette III was a pioneer aircraft developed in France during 1908. Development After the limited success of the Gastambide-Mengin monoplane Levavasseur completely revised the design resulting in the Antoinette III. The inadequate roll c ...

Antoinette V The Antoinette V was an early French aircraft, first flown on 20 December 1908. Design Following closely to the winning formula that Levavasseur had introduced, the Antoinette V introduced a revised undercarriage, with a closely spaced pair of ...

Antoinette VI __NOTOC__ The Antoinette VI was an early French aircraft, flown in 1909. It was a development of the Antoinette IV, its major technological advance being that it was fitted with true ailerons, whereas the former aircraft had ailerons mounted as ...

Antoinette VII The Antoinette VII was an early French aircraft, flown in 1909. History The VII was a further development of the Antoinette IV, with increased engine power and using a wing warping system implemented by Levavasseur for the Antoinette V in plac ...

Antoinette military monoplane The Antoinette military monoplane, also known as the Antoinette Monobloc or the Antoinette-Latham was an early 3-seat monoplane built in France in 1911 by the Antoinette company in the hope of attracting orders from the French military. It feat ...

Fedor Ivanovich Bylinkin Fedor Ivanovich Bylinkin was an aircraft designer and builder in Russia before World War I. He designed and built a monoplane in 1910 similar to the Antoinette VI which succeeded in reaching 200 m of flight. A later biplane design proved a failu ...

, designer of a similar aircraft, 1910

References

* * ''World Aircraft Information Files.'' Brightstar Publishing: London. File 889 Sheet 63.
Hubert Latham: Windkiller

"Antoinette VII un avión con historia"
by Eloy Martin, 2013 (in Spanish). {{Antoinette aircraft and aero engines 1900s French experimental aircraft 4 Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1908