Witzig-Lioré-Dutilleul
Founder/key people include Witzig, Fernand Liore, Dutilleul, all apparently aero engineers.
SD identifies three aircraft, a monoplane of unspecified date, a biplane of 1909, and an unspecified No. 2. A "peculiar" WLD biplane appears to have first been seen in public in September 1908. It had four main surfaces, stair-stepped one behind the other, so that the last was situated immediately above a pair of vertical rudders at the rear of the frame. Each plane was bent in the middle so as to form a flat inverted V and the foremost main plane had a pair of supplementary planes beneath it, which would make it a biplane in name although these lower supplemental planes were quite small in surface compared to what was above them; lifting surfaces were 47 square meters in area, the engine was a 50hp Renault, and the wooden propeller, 3 meters in diameter, was situated behind.
In a photograph printed in early February 1909, and identified as an earlier view (of what is not known), the three lower main planes were about 1/3 the size of the forward main plane and all surfaces appeared flat except for the forward main plane, which resembled a very flattened U.
In late April 1909, there appears to have been a different WLD machine, this one using two main planes and a 50hp Renault motor. A Witzig biplane, referred to as having undergone considerable alterations, was flown 250 meters on 28 July 1909 and what was identified as Biplane 2 was tested at Issy on at least two days in August 1909.
Whatever was at Issy was under water in its hangar from the floods in early 1910 and we have so far not found any subsequent reports. (In their listings under Liore et Olivier, G and 2d G misspell Dutilleul as Dutheuil and date their alliance as 1911-1912, by which time it appears to have been ended.) Liore went on to be a founder of Les Ateliers d'Aviation Liore et Olivier, March 1912.
Sources
- Gunston, 1993, p183
- Gunston, 2005, p286, 505
- SD309
- 1908AMJ1273
- 1909FM81, 248, 478, 519
- 1910FM94
- 1910CAN91
| Names | Witzig-Lioré-Dutilleul, WLD |
|---|---|
| Country | France |
| City | |
| Affiliations | |
| Keywords | |
| Started aero | 1908 |
| Ended aero | 1910 |
| Key people | Witzig, Fernand Liore, Dutilleul |
| Wikidata id |
