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Frédéric Airault (; born 18 May 1868 in Paris) was a French
engineer Engineers, as practitioners of engineering, are professionals who invent, design, analyze, build and test machines, complex systems, structures, gadgets and materials to fulfill functional objectives and requirements while considering the l ...
and
dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...
pilot who was technical director of a number of automobile and aviation firms before the
First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fig ...
.


Biography

He enrolled at the École des Arts et Métiers campus in
Angers Angers (, , ) is a city in western France, about southwest of Paris. It is the prefecture of the Maine-et-Loire department and was the capital of the province of Anjou until the French Revolution. The inhabitants of both the city and the pr ...
from 1884 gaining his ''
diplôme d'ingénieur The Diplôme d'Ingénieur (, often abbreviated as ''Dipl. Ing.'') is a postgraduate degree in engineering ''(see Engineer's Degrees in Europe)'' usually awarded by the Grandes Écoles in engineering. It is generally obtained after five to seven ye ...
'' in 1887. Airault served with the French Navy for five years, and in 1892 he joined the Société française de constructions mécaniques. In 1897, he designed a
V-4 engine A V4 engine is a four-cylinder piston engine where the cylinders share a common crankshaft and are arranged in a V configuration. The V4 engine is less common compared to straight-four engines. However, V4 engines have been used in automobiles ...
24 hp engine with progressive friction transmission, and from 1899 he worked at the car and bicycle maker
Hurtu Hurtu was a pioneering French car made by Diligeon et Cie based in Albert, Somme from 1896 to 1930. As well as cars, the company also made sewing machines and bicycles. The company was founded in 1880 as Hurtu, Hautin et Diligeon as a maker of s ...
as engineer, head of research and then Technical Director. He stayed there for four years, and in 1903 became a co-director of the Anciennes usines Buchet ('Former Buchet Factories') in
Levallois-Perret Levallois-Perret () is a commune in the Hauts-de-Seine department and ÃŽle-de-France region of north-central France. It lies some from the centre of Paris in the north-western suburbs of the French capital. It is the most densely populated ...
, a north western Paris suburb. Élie Buchet, founder of the original 'Usines Buchet', had died in late 1903. Airault left in 1905 to become general director of Fabbrica di Automobili Florentia. Airault stayed there for a year before moving to become Technical Director of the Société française des trains Renard in 1906. The
Daimler Company The Daimler Company Limited ( ), prior to 1910 The Daimler Motor Company Limited, was an independent British motor vehicle manufacturer founded in London by H. J. Lawson in 1896, which set up its manufacturing base in Coventry. The comp ...
manufactured the Road Train under licence in the UK. The industrialist
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe (; 25 September 1846 – 24 November 1919), born Salomon Henry Deutsch, was a successful French petroleum businessman (known as the "Oil King of Europe"Howard, Fred, ''Wilbur & Orville: A Biography'', Dover Publicatio ...
joined with Édouard Surcouf to form
Société Astra ''Société Astra des Constructions Aéronautiques'' was a major French manufacturer of balloons, airships, and aeroplanes in the early 20th century. It was founded in 1908 when Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe purchased Édouard Surcouf's
to make
dirigible An airship or dirigible balloon is a type of aerostat or lighter-than-air aircraft that can navigate through the air under its own power. Aerostats gain their lift from a lifting gas that is less dense than the surrounding air. In early ...
airships. Airault piloted the dirigible "Osmanli" (the first Turkish airship) at the Parc Saint-Cloud on 18 April 1909. Airault was the director of the aeronautic park for the Astra III dirigible ''Ville-de-Nancy'' (piloted by Édouard Surcouf and :fr:Henry Kapférer) at the Exposition Internationale de l'Est de la France in Nancy in 1909. He became Technical Director of
Compagnie générale transaérienne The ''Compagnie générale transaérienne'' (CGT: General Trans-Air Company) was a predecessor of Air France, founded in 1909. At first it operated airships in France and Switzerland, then added float planes and direct flights from Paris to London ...
(CGT) (later
Air France Air France (; formally ''Société Air France, S.A.''), stylised as AIRFRANCE, is the flag carrier of France headquartered in Tremblay-en-France. It is a subsidiary of the Air France–KLM Group and a founding member of the SkyTeam global airl ...
), founded in October 1909 by
Louis Blériot Louis Charles Joseph Blériot ( , also , ; 1 July 1872 – 1 August 1936) was a French aviator, inventor, and engineer. He developed the first practical headlamp for cars and established a profitable business manufacturing them, using much of th ...
and again owned by
Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe (; 25 September 1846 – 24 November 1919), born Salomon Henry Deutsch, was a successful French petroleum businessman (known as the "Oil King of Europe"Howard, Fred, ''Wilbur & Orville: A Biography'', Dover Publicatio ...
.Blériot had used an Anzani 3-cylinder W fan engine of about 3 litres to power the Blériot IX across the English Channel on 25 July 1909 (he had previously used
Antoinette Antoinette is a given name, that is a diminutive feminine form of Antoine and Antonia (from Latin ''Antonius''). People with the name include: Nobles * Antoinette de Maignelais, Baroness of Villequier by marriage (1434–1474), mistress of C ...
engines).
He installed hydrogen gas plants at Nancy and then at Beauval for CGT.These were possibly
water gas Water gas is a kind of fuel gas, a mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. It is produced by "alternately hot blowing a fuel layer okewith air and gasifying it with steam". The caloric yield of this is about 10% of a modern syngas plant. Fu ...
plants for continuous production of hydrogen. See
While testing the Astra VI ''l'Espagne'' on 5 November 1909, the propeller shaft ruptured, breaking the nacelle. Airault avoided a catastrophe, landing with a masterly hand near
Frémainville Frémainville () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. See also *Communes of the Val-d'Oise department The following is a list of the 184 communes of the Val-d'Oise department of France. The commune ...
,
Seine-et-Oise Seine-et-Oise () was the former department of France encompassing the western, northern and southern parts of the metropolitan area of Paris.Val d'Oise Val-d'Oise (, "Vale of the Oise") is a department in the ÃŽle-de-France region, Northern France. It was created in 1968 following the split of the Seine-et-Oise department. In 2019, Val-d'Oise had a population of 1,249,674.
), some 50 miles (85 km) from
Meaux Meaux () is a commune on the river Marne in the Seine-et-Marne department in the ÃŽle-de-France region in the metropolitan area of Paris, France. It is east-northeast of the centre of Paris. Meaux is, with Provins, Torcy and Fontaineblea ...
. Brought back to Beauval, repaired and modified, ''l’España'' was delivered to the Spanish military authorities at the start of 1910. In August 1910, he received his pilot-aeronaut certificate for dirigible balloons (along with Robert Balny d'Avricourt.) Transaérienne started operating Astra dirigibles in France and Switzerland. Airault, as the company's chief pilot, directed operations of Surcouf's Astra VII ''Ville de Lucerne'' in August 1910 in
Lucerne Lucerne ( , ; High Alemannic: ''Lozärn'') or Luzern ()Other languages: gsw, Lozärn, label= Lucerne German; it, Lucerna ; rm, Lucerna . is a city in central Switzerland, in the German-speaking portion of the country. Lucerne is the capital o ...
. Transaérienne followed this with a seaplane service on Lake Lucerne and Lake Geneva, then cross-channel flights in 1911. Henri de la Meurthe also bought the
Nieuport Nieuport, later Nieuport-Delage, was a French aeroplane company that primarily built racing aircraft before World War I and fighter aircraft during World War I and between the wars. History Beginnings Originally formed as Nieuport-Duplex in ...
aircraft firm after Edouard Nieuport died in a flying accident in 1911. In 1912, he lived at 25, Rue de Marignan, Paris.''Paris-Hachette'' 1912, p. 3.
(in French).


References

;Notes ;Citations ;Sources * * *


External links


Contemporary advertisements for Hurtu and Buchet products
*Photo o

Concours du Grand Prix de L'Aero-Club de France, Esplanade des Invalides, Paris, 26 September 1909. * Photo o
Astra VI dirigible España
with Kapférer, Airault, and Henri Deutsch de la Meurthe. Retrieved 22 March 2016 {{DEFAULTSORT:Airault, Frederic 1868 births 19th-century French engineers Year of death missing 20th-century French engineers