The Botali P.A.M.A or Botali-du Rivau P.A.M.A. Type 1 was a very low power

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), ...

single seat aircraft built in 1934 to a target price of 20,000 Francs.

Design and development

In order to meet a target price of 20,000 Francs set by the Air Ministry a decade before, Botali designed a 1930s version of the very low power light aircraft that competed in the

Lympne light aircraft trials Lympne (), formerly also Lymne, is a village on the former shallow-gradient sea cliffs above the expansive agricultural plain of Romney Marsh in Kent. The settlement forms an L shape stretching from Port Lympne Zoo via Lympne Castle facing Ly ...

of the 1920s. Unlike the earlier aircraft, his design had an enclosed cabin and robust

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 ...

. His P.A.M.A. designation stood for ''planeur à moteur auxiliary'', or motor glider. Built in collaboration with du Rivau, the Botali P.A.M.A was a

high wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft A fixed-wing aircraft is a heavier-than-air aircraft, such as an airplane, which is capable of flight using aerodynamic lift. Fixed-wing aircraft are distinct from rotary-wing aircraft (in which a r ...

, braced

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 ...

. In plan its two-piece wing was rectangular apart from rounded tips. It was built around two

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'' ...

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 ...

box spars apart and ply covered. The wings were wire braced on each side, with a pair of stout

flying wires 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 ...

from the lower

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 ...

to the spars and thinner

landing wires Landing is the last part of a flight, where a flying animal, aircraft, or spacecraft returns to the ground. When the flying object returns to water, the process is called alighting, although it is commonly called "landing", "touchdown" or "Spla ...

from a triangular steel tube cabane on the upper fuselage. Long

ailerons 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 ...

, with a chord of only occupied the entire

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. ...

. The fabric covered fuselage of the Botali was flat-sided, with four

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 ...

connected by spruce diagonal members. At the front two vertical frames defined the cabin and carried the engine bearings, braced by 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 ...

frame to 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 ...

. Its horizontal cylinder-shaped nose had the air-cooled

Poinsard The Poinsard 25 hp or Mengin Type B is a small, two-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed aircraft engine built in France. it was manufactured by Établissements Pierre Mengin from a design by René Poinsard. Power was around 19 ...

flat twin A flat-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. The most common type of flat-twin engine is the boxer-twin engine, where both pistons move inwards and outwards at the same ti ...

attached to it externally. Immediately behind the engine, where the upper half of the fuselage was entirely glazed, was the wide cabin, with two more windows aft. Access was via a starboard side door. Behind the cabin the fuselage tapered, markedly in plan, to the tail. This was conventional, with a triangular

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 ...

and rectangular

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 ...

that reached 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 ...

and separate

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 were also rectangular in plan apart from a deep cut-out in the latter for rudder movement. The Botali's

was simple: on each side a wheel was mounted on the apex of three steel tubes, two from the lower longeron and a third to the nose framework about halfway up the fuselage. Dunlop balloon tyres provided shock absorbing deflections of more than . there was a long steel spring tailskid. It was flown for the first time on 22 May 1934 by Pierre Pharabod at Toussus-Paris, who reported good handling. In December 1934 the P.A.M.A. Type 1 was successfully demonstrated at Orly by Cressaty, flying along with several other French light aircraft in very wet and windy weather; a Mignet Pou-de-Ciel took the honours. It was displayed at the 14th Paris Aero-Salon in the same month.

Specifications

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite journal , date=21 June 1934, title=L'avion de "20.000 francs" Botaili-P.A.M.A. , journal=Les Ailes , issue=679 , pages=3, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6576044c/f3 {{cite journal , date=13 December 1934, title=de Toussus à Orly , journal=Les Ailes , issue=704 , pages=6–7, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6576072p/f6 {{cite journal , date=December 1934 , title=L'avionettte BOTALI "PAMA", journal=L'Aérophile , pages=24, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65536869/f26 {{cite web , url=http://www.aviafrance.com/botali-du-rivau-p-a-m-a-type-1-aviation-france-10222.htm, title=Botali-du Rivau P.A.M.A. type 1 , author=Bruno Parmentier , date=12 May 2010, accessdate=8 March 2016 1930s French sport aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1934 Motor gliders