Search results
Biography of. CHARLES ALPHONSE PÉNAUD. 1850-1880. Written by BH (08/1990); Transcribed and reformatted by JS (09/2010) The following was published in the August 1990 issue of Model Aviation magazine, written by Bill Hannan. Pénaud Planophores. Little known and little remembered today, this early French pioneer of flying models opened doors to ...
- 85KB
- 8
Alphonse Pénaud (31 May 1850 – 22 October 1880), was a 19th-century French pioneer of aviation design and engineering. He was the originator of the use of twisted rubber to power model aircraft, and his 1871 model airplane, which he called the Planophore, was the first aerodynamically stable flying model.
Oct 8, 2016 · Decades before the Wright brothers achieved takeoff at Kitty Hawk, Parisian designer Alphonse Pénaud launched an innovative model airplane on an 11-second flight through the Jardin des...
People also ask
Who was Alphonse Pénaud?
What were Pénaud's experiments in model aviation?
When did Pénaud make a model helicopter?
How old was Penaud when he invented a model airplane?
Alphonse Pénaud (1850-1880) was a French pioneer of aircraft design, who is chiefly remembered for having produced a range of quite decent working rubber-band-powered model aircraft in the late C18th, including the model bought for the young Wright Brothers by their mother which inspired them to become aviators.
When I was in grade school, long ago, I loved building model airplanes powered by twisted rubber bands. Sometimes I worked from kits -- sometimes from my own imagination. Building those models taught me that I had abilities despite the devastation of undiagnosed dyslexia. They gave me hope.
Apr 29, 2024 · Pénaud flew his planophore, as the model was known, in the Jardin des Tuileries in Paris on Aug. 18, 1871. The model completed a circular flight of approximately 40 metres (130 feet) in 11 seconds, providing the first public demonstration of genuine stability in a heavier-than-air machine.
Nov 30, 2009 · The model flew 131 feet, setting a new record for a flying toy—proving that heavier-than-air flight was possible. 3 Discovered at the beginning of the nineteenth century by George Cayley, but not quite understood, Pénaud was the first to theorize and demonstrate the principle of Inherent Stability.
