Air Wibault 100 double-decker airliner of 1939

[hesham]

Hi,

An early drawing to Breguet-Wibault 670 as double deck transport
aircraft project.


http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1938/1938%20-%200581.pdf

 

[Jemiba]

Mock-up photos were shown in http://www.aerostories.org/~aeroforums/index.htm
some years ago, but designated Air-Wibault 100. ???

 

[lark]

Three view shows the Air-Wibault 1.00 project of 1939 .
Powerplants should have been four Gnôme-Rhone GR P 18 engines.
seats: 74 range 2.400km.

source :Aviation Magazine -April 1966.

 

[Caravellarella]

Three view shows the Air-Wibault 1.00 project of 1939 .
Powerplants should have been four Gnôme-Rhone GR P 18 engines.
seats: 74 range 2.400km.

source :Aviation Magazine -April 1966.

Dear Lark, here is an article in French on the Air-Wibault 1-00 double-decker airliner of 1939. The article implies that the lack of suitable engines in the 1,600hp class made the designers consider use of the Arsenal concept of coupled in-line liquid-cooled Hispano-Suiza engines instead. Note the lower deck "hublots" in the wing root fairing of the prototype......

The article comes from the the 1st July 1966 issue of Aviation Magazine International......

Terry (Caravellarella)

 

[Stargazer]

Wow! This one's new to me... Amazing that construction had been THAT advanced! Quite an innovating design by 1939 standards, especially in France.

 

[lark]

Thanks Terry,

Part 13 in the series about Wibault I see.
Maybe the last but one in the series about Wibaullt
in L'Aviation ?

 

[Caravellarella]

Thanks Terry,

Part 13 in the series about Wibault I see.
Maybe the last but one in the series about Wibaullt
in L'Aviation ?

Thank you Lark; from memory the other articles feature aircraft that were actually built and flown; so they are neither "projects" nor "secret". For example I've edited out all reference to the Wibault-Bréguet 670T from the same article for that reason......

Terry (Caravellarella)

 

[Caravellarella]

Wow! This one's new to me... Amazing that construction had been THAT advanced! Quite an innovating design by 1939 standards, especially in France.

Dear Stéphane, here is a little profile I've found showing the double-decker fuselage of the Air-Wibault 1-00 project. Quite similar to the Bréguet 760 Deux-Ponts series and the Fokker F.56 project......

Terry (Caravellarella)

 

[toura]

THANKS MY DEAR tOPHE

 

[Stargazer]

Splendid!!!

 

[Stargazer]

More about the Air Wibault 100, from Avions N°97 and 99:

 

[toura]

Hi all

Two variants ?
FLIGHT show a three views with one fin
AVIATION MAGAZINE And AVIONS one with twin fins ?
Bye

 

[hole in the ground]

most of the drawings seem to show a single fin. Pity none of the photos show the tail. Interestingly one of the photos suggests a row of small windows in the wing root for the lower deck.

 

[hesham]

Hi,


its model;


http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65536387/f53.image.langFR

 

[sienar]

Lower deck was a bit of a double bubble, at least at the wing root

http://www.luftfahrt-bibliothek.de/zeitschrift-flugsport-oskar-ursinus-luftsport-luftfahrt-luftverkehr/luftsport-luftfahrt-luftverkehr-flugsport-1940/zeitschrift-flugsport-1940-luftsport-luftverkehr-luftfahrt.htm

 

[hesham]

More about the Air Wibault 100, from Avions N°97 and 99:

With the text.

 

[hesham]

From Ailes 1936.

 

[Cparotop]

Is this plane a complete frame build guys?, and is there anything else missing to complete it?

 

[Stargazer]

Is this plane a complete frame build guys?, and is there anything else missing to complete it?

I think it's been pretty clear in the previous posts that the photos merely depicted a full-scale mockup, not an actual airframe.

WRONG. My mistake (see further below)

 

[Adler]

Do we know what happened to the mockup after the project's termination?

 

[Stargazer]

Do we know what happened to the mockup after the project's termination?

Since that was 1939, and the war with Germany started in September, it is more than likely that it was destroyed some time in 1940 to prevent it from falling into the hands of the occupation army...

WRONG. — SEE REPLY #26

 

[fortrena]

If one is to believe the article publishedI in the July 1st, 1966 issue of the French bimonthly Aviation Magazine international, the structure of the prototype of the Air-Wibault 100 or 1-00 was complete by the spring of 1940 at the latest, but the aircraft had no engine. As was mentioned above, no engine of sufficient power was available in France at the time. According to that same article, the aircraft was destroyed in its Arsenal de l'Aéronautique hangar on June 3rd, 1940, during a major German bombing raid on the air base of Villacoublay, near Paris.

Some photo captions in an article by Michel Wibault in the February 1940 issue of the French monthly L'Aéronautique also seemed to say that what they showed was a real aircraft under construction.

Incidentally, wind tunnel tests showed that the twin fins originally planned would not do. They were replaced by a large, single fin.

 

[Stargazer]

After reading through several documents, I realize that I made a big mistake further above, stating that the photos depicted only a full-scale mockup. They didn't. They actually showed the real prototype under construction.

To make up for that silly mistake, I'm attaching an exclusive 18-page document containing the entire 16-page article "L'avion géant de transport Air-Wibault" written by Michel Wibault himself and published in the January 1940 issue of L'Aéronautique.

 

[PhR]

In attached photo, you can see both the real prototype under construction on the left and probably a 1:1 scale layout model of a fuselage section on the right.

 

[Stargazer]

In attached photo, you can see both the real prototype under construction on the left and probably a 1:1 scale layout model of a fuselage section on the right.

Wow. Nice, thanks!
Do you know if the real 1-00 captured by the Germans at Villacoublay, as I've read? Or did they just find the fuselage mockup?

 

[PhR]

Wow. Nice, thanks!
Do you know if the real 1-00 captured by the Germans at Villacoublay, as I've read? Or did they just find the fuselage mockup?

Yes, I confirm: they found the the real aircraft in Villacoublay, not just a mockup.

 

[martinbayer]

Yes, I confirm: they found the the real aircraft in Villacoublay, not just a mockup.

Did it ever really *FLY* though at all, or was it just another hangar queen?

 

[Stargazer]

Did it ever really *FLY* though at all, or was it just another hangar queen?

The engines were never ready before the German occupation. I suspect the Germans didn't find suitable engines for it either, or decided they prefered to use them on something else, because they didn't fly it either...

 

[Wka23]

Hi

I am looking for a book pubkised on his life and a copy of the Nato study does anyone have access to it

 

[Stargazer]

I am looking for a book pubkised on his life and a copy of the Nato study does anyone have access to it

You mean Michel Wibault? Well, there was one book published in French a decade ago, but it was a very limited pressing and I don't think it's available anymore. There are also a few interesting bits in Pionniers N° 39, which I'm attaching here:

 

[Wka23]

Many thanks