Étienne Dormoy (10 February 1885, in Vandoncourt, France – 28 February 1959, in

San Diego San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in t ...

, US) was an aeronautical engineer and a designer of aircraft.

Biography

Etienne Dormoy graduated in 1906 as an electrical engineer from Institut industriel du Nord ( École Centrale de Lille, France). He worked as an aircraft designer for Deperdussin ( Deperdussin Monocoque (SPAD)) in France. He met Harold D. Kantner in France in 1913. He was then seconded to Maximilian Schmitt Aeroplane & Motor Works (Paterson, New Jersey), wherein he designed the first

monocoque Monocoque ( ), also called structural skin, is a structural system in which loads are supported by an object's external skin, in a manner similar to an egg shell. The word ''monocoque'' is a French term for "single shell". First used for boats, ...

fuselage aircraft produced in the US. With this

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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

, Harold D. Kantner won the ''New York Times'' race on 4 April 1914. The aircraft was re-engineered as a

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 ...

with a 100 hp engine and tested for military applications at San Diego, California. Dormoy returned to France at the beginning of World War I, working for the

Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés Groupe Lactalis S.A. (doing business as Lactalis) is a French multinational dairy products corporation, owned by the Besnier family and based in Laval, Mayenne, France. The company's former name was Besnier S.A. Lactalis is the largest dairy pr ...

(SPAD). In 1917, he joined the French industry delegation in the United States for SPAD technology transfer to

Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company The Curtiss Aeroplane and Motor Company (1909–1929) was an American aircraft manufacturer originally founded by Glenn Curtiss, Glenn Hammond Curtiss and Augustus Moore Herring in Hammondsport, New York. After significant commercial success in ...

at Elmwood (Buffalo, New York). After the war, Dormoy worked for the Engineering Division of the

United States Army Air Service The United States Army Air Service (USAAS)Craven and Cate Vol. 1, p. 9 (also known as the ''"Air Service"'', ''"U.S. Air Service"'' and before its legislative establishment in 1920, the ''"Air Service, United States Army"'') was the aerial warf ...

at McCook Field (Dayton, Ohio) from 1919 to 1925. There, he tested

aerial application Aerial application, or crop dusting, involves spraying crops with crop protection products from an agricultural aircraft. Planting certain types of seed are also included in aerial application. The specific spreading of fertilizer is also known a ...

s, including a United States Army Air Service Curtiss JN-4 modified for aerial crop dusting in 1921. At McCook Field, he designed the ultra-light Dormoy Bathtub in 1924, after two prototypes built in 1919 and 1920. Dormoy earned the 'Dayton Daily News Light Airplane Race and Rickenbacker Trophy' in 1924. Dormoy joined Buhl Aircraft Company in Detroit, MI, from 1925 to 1932, wherein he designed several types of sport and utility aircraft. Dormoy contributed to the first type-approval of a US aircraft (US type certificate n°1 - March 1927 for Buhl-Verville CA-3/J-4 Airster). Acting as Buhl's chief engineer, Dormoy designed the Buhl Airsedan in 1928 (number built > 60) and the cheap Buhl Bull Pup in 1930 (number built > 100) that were relative successes at the onset of the Great Depression. Buhl Airsedan Spokane Sun God was used to make the first nonstop roundtrip flight across the United States in August 1929. Dormoy also prototyped the

Buhl A-1 Autogyro The Buhl A-1 Autogiro was an autogyro optimised for air camera work designed and built from 1930. To this end, Etienne Dormoy designed the Buhl A-1, an autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyr ...

, world first

autogyro An autogyro (from Greek and , "self-turning"), gyroscope, gyrocopter or gyroplane, is a class of rotorcraft that uses an unpowered rotor in free autorotation to develop lift. A gyroplane "means a rotorcraft whose rotors are not engine-d ...

with rear propulsion motor in 1931. Dormoy joined

Boeing The Boeing Company, or simply Boeing (), is an American multinational corporation that designs, manufactures, and sells airplanes, rotorcraft, rockets, satellites, and missiles worldwide. The company also provides leasing and product support s ...

in Seattle, Washington, around 1932/1934 and Consolidated Aircraft Corporation of San Diego ( Convair-

General Dynamics General Dynamics Corporation (GD) is an American publicly traded aerospace and defense corporation headquartered in Reston, Virginia. As of 2020, it was the fifth largest defense contractor in the world by arms sales and fifth largest in the Unit ...

) in San Diego, California, from 1936 to 1958.

Aircraft designs

Image:Deperdussin Monocoque.JPG, SPAD Deperdussin Monocoque (1911) Image:SPAD XIII 040510-F-1234P-019.jpg, SPAD (1917) Etienne Dormoy and John A. Macready in front of 1st crop duster aircraft.JPG, E. Dormoy (left) and pilot Lieut. J. A. Macready (right) in front of the 1st crop duster airplane (August 3, 1921) Hopper of 1st crop duster aircraft.jpg, Hopper designed by E. Dormoy for the first crop duster airplane Image:Dormoy Bathtub 1.jpg, Dormoy's Flying Bathtub (1924) Image:J4 buhlverville.JPG, Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster, first certified aircraft (US type approval n°1 - 1927) Image:Buhl CA-6 Air Sedan. Spokane Sun God.jpg, Buhl Airsedan (1928) Image:BuhlPupInFlight.jpg, Buhl Bull Pup (1930) Image:Buhl A-1 Autogiro - autogyro with rear push propeller engine - designer Etienne Dormoy and pilot James Johnson - 1931.jpg, Etienne Dormoy in front of the

(1931) Image:Boeing P26.jpg,

Boeing P-26 Peashooter The Boeing P-26 "Peashooter" is the first American production all-metal fighter aircraft and the first pursuit monoplane to enter squadron service with the United States Army Air Corps. Designed and built by Boeing, the prototype first flew in 1 ...

(1932) Image:Convair 240 Western AL NC9409H (4390997784).jpg,

Convair 240 The Convair CV-240 is an American airliner that Convair manufactured from 1947 to 1954, initially as a possible replacement for the ubiquitous Douglas DC-3. Featuring a more modern design with cabin pressurization, the 240 series made some inroa ...

* Maximilian Schmitt Aeroplane & Motor Works : First

fuselage aircraft produced in USA, derived from

Deperdussin Monocoque The Deperdussin Monocoque was an early racing aircraft built in 1912 by the Aéroplanes Deperdussin, a French aircraft manufacturer started in 1911 and reorganized as the Société Pour L'Aviation et ses Dérivés ( SPAD) in 1913. It is so nam ...

* SPAD : US adaptation and production of SPAD aircraft for

American Expeditionary Forces The American Expeditionary Forces (AEF) was a formation of the United States Armed Forces on the Western Front (World War I), Western Front during World War I, composed mostly of units from the United States Army, U.S. Army. The AEF was establis ...

and

, including 189 SPAD S.VII and 893 SPAD S.XIII * Orenco B * Dormoy Bathtub * Buhl-Verville CA-3 Airster : The Airster CA/J-4 is the first type-approved US aircraft (US

type certificate A type certificate signifies the airworthiness of a particular category of aircraft, according to its manufacturing design (''type design''). Certification confirms that the aircraft of a new type intended for serial production is in compliance w ...

n°1 - March 1927) * Buhl CA-1 Airster * Buhl Airsedan (number built > 60) * Buhl Bull Pup (number built > 100) *

: World first

with rear propulsion motor *

References

* Bruce H. Charnov, From autogiro to gyroplane: the amazing survival of an aviation technology, Praeger, 2003 ( and ), P. 89, 90, 98 * Robert F. Pauley, Michigan Aircraft Manufacturers Images of Aviation Series, Arcadia Publishing, 2009 ( and ) *Jeffrey R. Davis, M.D., Robert Johnson, Jan Stepanek, M.D, Fundamentals of Aerospace Medicine, Lippincott Williams & Wilkins, 2008 ( and ) * Bill Gunston, World encyclopaedia of aircraft manufacturers: from the pioneers to the present day, Naval Institute Press, 1993 ( and )

External links

Etienne Dormoy, 1885-1959 (Biography)

US Patent 2045638 from Etienne Dormoy assigned to Boeing, Means to assist movement of airplane control surface, December 18, 1934
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dormoy, Etienne 1885 births 1959 deaths French aerospace engineers École centrale de Lille alumni