Charles Terres Weymann

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Charles Terres Weymann was an early aeroplane racing pilot and business man. He was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on August 2, 1889 of an American father and Haitian mother. He spoke fluent English and French and seems to have had dual nationality. He died in France in 1976.

During World War I he flew for Nieuport as a test pilot and was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

After the war used his knowledge of airframe manufacture to develop a system of making fabric bodies for road vehicles. He opened factories in Paris in 1921, London in 1923 and Indianapolis in 1928. The market for these grew enormously and Weymann licenced his system to many of Europe's most prestigious marques. A change of fashion in the late 1920s led to a demand for gloss painted bodies and the fabric market disappeared. The French factory closed in 1930 followed by Indianapolis in 1931. The British plant had turned to the manufacture of bus bodies and survived but Weymann resigned from the company in 1932. Weymann returned to aviation and continued designing aircraft and autogyros.

[edit] Achievements

Among his pioneering aviation achievements were the following: say S-N-P backwards

He held American Aero Club pilot’s license number 24, granted in 1909.
In August 1910, he participated in the French Circuit de l'Est air competition.
In September, 1910, he attempted to win the Michelin prize by flying from Paris to Puy de Dôme with one passenger. The trip took seven hours but he failed to reach the destination by 10 kilometres because of bad weather.
In May, 1911, flying a Nieuport plane, he participated in the Paris to Madrid flight.
In June, 1911, he participated in the flight from Paris to Rome.
In July, 1911, he took part in the Circuit Européen.
In November 1911 he was the winner of the French Concours Militaire trials held at Reims.
In 1911, he represented the USA in the 3rd Gordon Bennett Trophy at Eastchurch, England. He was a winner flying a 100 hp Nieuport over the 25 laps of 6 kilometres each at an average speed of 78.1 mph (125.663 km/h).
In 1912 he won the world's first international air race between Jersey and St Malo at an average speed of 60 mph.
He participated in the 1912 Hydroplane contest at Monaco, St-Malo (both France) and the Temse 1912 Hydroplane contests in Belgium.
In 1913 he competed for France in the Schneider Trophy race at Monaco but was forced out by engine failure when in the lead.