The A-2 ''Vautour'' (''Vulture'') was a single-seat

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

glider that was designed by

Georges Abrial Georges Abrial (1898 in Paris – 1970 in Vauville, Manche) was an early French aerodynamicist. Life After graduating from the St Cyr Aeronautical Institute he worked for Levasseur ( Levasseur-Abrial A-1) and did some pioneering work into tai ...

. It performed well at the Vauville competition of 1925.

Design

The Vautour was designed by

of the ''

Institut aérotechnique The Institut aérotechnique (IAT) is a French public research laboratory part of the ''Conservatoire national des arts et métiers'', specializing in aerodynamic studies, located in Saint-Cyr-l'École (Yvelines). The creation of this institute ...

de Saint-Cyr'' and built by

Louis Peyret Louis may refer to: People * Louis (given name), origin and several individuals with this name * Louis (surname) * Louis (singer), Serbian singer Other uses * Louis (coin), a French coin * HMS ''Louis'', two ships of the Royal Navy See also * ...

. Each wing, joined to a centre-section on top of the fuselage with light dihedral, had a rectangular plan apart from an angled tip and carried a broad chord

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 aroun ...

which filled about 60% of the span. They were of mixed construction with two rectangular section

dural Dural is a semi rural suburb of Sydney, in the state of New South Wales, Australia 36 kilometres north-west of the Sydney central business district in the local government areas of Hornsby Shire and The Hills Shire. Dural is part of the Hills ...

spars and

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 ...

rib In vertebrate anatomy, ribs () are the long curved bones which form the rib cage, part of the axial skeleton. In most tetrapods, ribs surround the thoracic cavity, enabling the lungs to expand and thus facilitate breathing by expanding the ...

s. Each wing was braced with a pair of parallel

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. A stay is sometimes used as a synonym for ...

s, dural tubes enclosed in streamlined, wooden fairings, between the lower fuselage longerons and the wing spars just inside the ailerons. Its fuselage was rectangular in section, with

spruce A spruce is a tree of the genus ''Picea'' ( ), a genus of about 40 species of coniferous evergreen trees in the family Pinaceae, found in the northern temperate and boreal ecosystem, boreal (taiga) regions of the Northern hemisphere. ''Picea'' ...

longeron 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 fram ...

s and laminated wood

frame A frame is often a structural system that supports other components of a physical construction and/or steel frame that limits the construction's extent. Frame and FRAME may also refer to: Physical objects In building construction *Framing (con ...

s. The sides were everywhere vertical but ahead of the wing it narrowed in plan and decreased in depth to a rounded nose. The downward sloping upper surface here was not flat but curved, formed from thin

aluminium Aluminium (or aluminum in North American English) is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Al and atomic number 13. It has a density lower than that of other common metals, about one-third that of steel. Aluminium has ...

sheet. The pilot's 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 ...

was just in front of the

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 ...

, with a rubber-cord restrained canvas sheet between him and the aluminium surface, intended as protection in a crash. It contained some basic instrumentation, including an airspeed indicator and an

altimeter An altimeter or an altitude meter is an instrument used to measure the altitude of an object above a fixed level. The measurement of altitude is called altimetry, which is related to the term bathymetry, the measurement of depth under water. Ty ...

, both with sensors well above the wing centre-section on a mast, as well as a

compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

. The horizontal tail of the Vautour, mounted at mid-fuselage height, was similar in plan to the wing. 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 much narrower than the one piece

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 ...

. The

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 likewise narrower than the

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, airship, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (usually air or water). On an airplane, the rudder is used primarily to counter adverse yaw ...

and together had a

rhomboidal Traditionally, in two-dimensional geometry, a rhomboid is a parallelogram in which adjacent sides are of unequal lengths and angles are non-right angled. The terms "rhomboid" and "parallelogram" are often erroneously conflated with each oth ...

profile, allowing elevator clearance below. Both surfaces were wood-framed and ply covered, with the exception of the fabric covered rudder. 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 very simple, with wheels close to the sides on a split axle mounted within the fuselage. Rubber cord shock absorbers were used and the tailskid was also mounted elastically.

Operational history

The date of the first flight of the Vautour is not known but it made its first major public appearance in the meeting held at Vauville from 22 July to 11 August 1925. The competition included both gliders and low-powered aircraft. The Vautour, flown by Auger, gained the prize for greatest altitude above the starting point, reaching . It was placed second in a competition to fly the maximum number of laps, managing 36. It remained at Vauville after the contest and in February 1926 Auger returned to it with the intention of an attack on the altitude and distance records, as well as competing in several contests. By April the attempt had been abandoned due to unsuitable winds and the glider was dismantled and returned to Paris, with the hope of later using a site in

Eure Eure ( ; ; or ) is a department in the administrative region of Normandy, northwestern France, named after the river Eure. Its prefecture is Évreux. In 2021, Eure had a population of 598,934.1920s French sailplanes Glider aircraft Vautour Aircraft first flown in 1925