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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.
- 22 October 1880 (aged 30)
- Aeronautical inventor and engineer
- French
- 31 May 1850, Paris
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.
The story of Charles Alphonse Pénaud (pronounced pay-know), an early pioneer of model airplanes, deserves to be better known. In fact, this 19th century Frenchman may have been the most influential modeler of all time. Born in 1850 in Paris, Pénaud expected to carry on the family tradition of career maritime service.
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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...
May 31, 2019 · Alphonse Pénaud, a French aviation pioneer, was born May 31, 1850. In the early 1870s, Pénaud began building model aircraft powered by twisted rubber cords, the first to use what we would call a rubber-band motor. In 1871, he flew a model aircraft in the Tuileries for the Aeronautical Society of France.
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.
Pénaud was 21 when he finally perfected a rubber-band-driven model airplane. It had a wing, a tail, and a propeller in the rear. It was very close to the models kids like me were building 70 years later.
