| Industry | Aerospace |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1906 |
| Headquarters | France |
| Key people | Gabriel Voisin |
Voisin was a French aircraft company, one of first in the world. It was established in 1906 by two brothers, Gabriel Voisin and Charles Voisin, but it was continued only by Gabriel after the death of Charles Voisin in 1912; the full official company name became Société Anonyme des Aéroplanes G. Voisin[1][2][n 1] (English: Aeroplanes G. Voisin public limited company). It created the Europe's first manned, engine-powered, heavier-than-air aircraft capable of a sustained (1 km), circular, controlled flight, including take-off and landing, the Voisin-Farman I.
During World War I, it became a major producer of military aircraft, notably the Voisin III. Later on, Gabriel Voisin switched to design and production of exceptional automobiles under the name Avions Voisin.
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Gabriel had previously collaborated with fellow aviation pioneer Louis Blériot, forming the company Ateliers d' Aviation Edouard Surcouf, Blériot et Voisin in 1905.[3] Gabriel Voisin bought out Louis Blériot and on 5th November[3] 1906 established the Appareils d'Aviation Les Frères Voisinwith his brother Charles [3] (English: Flying Machines of Voisin Brothers). The company was based at Billancourt, near Paris; this was the first commercial aircraft factory in Europe.[4]
The company's first customers were a M. Florencie[5] who commissioned them to build an ornithopter he had designed and Henri Kapferer, for whom they built a pusher configuration biplane of their own design. This was underpowered, having a Buchet engine of only 20 hp (15 kW) and failed to fly. However, Kapferer introduced them to Leon Delagrange for whom they built another similar machine, this time powered by a 50 hp (37 kW) Antoinette engine. This was first successfully flown on 30 March 1907, achieving a straight-line flight of 60 m (200 ft). In turn Delagrange introduced them to Henri Farman, who ordered an identical aircraft. These two aircraft are often referred to by their owners names as the Voisin-Delagrange No.1 and the Voisin-Farman No.1, and were the foundation of the company's success. On 13 January 1908 Farman used his aircraft to win the "Grand Prix de l'aviation" offered by Ernest Archdeacon and Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe for the first closed-circuit flight of over a kilometre. Since the achievements of the Wright Brothers were widely disbelieved at the time, this was seen as a major breakthrough in the conquest of the air, and brought Voisin Frères many orders for similar aircraft: around sixty were built.
production of the Type III increased with the outbreak of the First World War. The Voisin III was followed by improved Type LB and Type LBS, or Voisin IV and Voisin V aircraft. The larger Type LC, Voisin VII, followed in 1916, but was not a success and only a hundred were built.
Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, it became apparent that the French aviation industry could not produce aircraft in sufficient numbers to meet military requirements. Manufacturers from various other fields became aviation subcontractors, and later license-builders. The earliest such partnership was between Louis Breguet and Michelin. Gabriel Voisin was late to this field, although his designs were produced in quantity by Russian licensees. By 1918, Voisin was involved with the Voisin-Lafresnaye company, a major constructor of airframes, and the Voisin-Lefebvre company, a major builder of aircraft engines.
Following the Voisin VII came the more powerful, and more successful, Type LAP and Type LBP, known as the Voisin VIII. This was the French army's main night bomber in 1916–1917, with over one thousand built. The Voisin IX, or Type LC, was an unsuccessful design for a reconnaissance aeroplane, which lost out to the superior Salmson 2 and Breguet 14. The Voisin X, Type LAR and Type LBR, was the Voisin VIII with a more reliable Renault engine in place of the previous Peugeot design. Deliveries were much delayed, but some nine hundred were built by the end of the war.
The last significant Voisin design, the Voisin XII, was successful in trials in 1918, but with the end of the war, no production was ordered. Unlike previous Voisins, the Voisin XII was a large, twin-tractor-engined biplane night bomber, rather more elegant than previous, boxy Voisins.
In 1918, a Voisin X (No. 3500) was used to create the Voisin 'Aerochir' ('Ambulance'). The aircraft was capable of flying a surgeon, together with an operating table and support equipment, including an x-ray machine and autoclave, into the battlefield. Eight hundred pounds (360 kg) of equipment could be carried in under-wing panniers.[6]
After 1918, Gabriel Voisin abandoned the aviation industry in favor of automobile construction under the brand Avions Voisin.