Albert Dessenis AD.1 "L'Espérance"

[hesham]

From TU 187,

here is all activities of Mr. Albert Dessenis;

Albert Dessenis, secretary general of the Aero-Club of Valenciennes in the North, was a craftsman
blacksmith in this city (he received the gold medal for the best workers in France).

Volunteer during the First World War, he started in 1916 as a student pilot
at Farman School. Seriously injured in front of Verdun, he returned from the war with the Medal
Military.

In the thirties, seduced by the movement launched by Mignet in favor of aviation
popular, he decided to build a small monoplane derived from HM-8 himself.

Called AD-1 "L’Espérance" (F-PARK), the machine flew in October 1935 with a Salmson
9Ad of 40 hp. It quickly proved to be a success, many hours of flight,
many trips and a successful participation in the Tour de France of prototypes (3500 km) on
proving abundantly. The aircraft reached a maximum speed of 120 km / h.

So much so that two friends of the builder, including Mr. Dellegrange, decided to
build a second. This one flew in the hands of Dessenis then those of his
sponsors. Unfortunately, on November 18, 1937, the aircraft had an accident and
Dellegrange was killed. Following this accident, the Ministry of Air removed the pass from
Dessenis and the plane stopped flying. Obviously, a lively controversy ensued in the
hurry.

This unfortunate episode did not discourage our lover who realized in 1939, in
collaboration with Mr. Guelton (carpenter in Valenciennes) another device designated "the
Seagull ” or la Mouette . The plane first flew on March 5, 1939 after 11 months of work.
Monoplane, monoplace parasol equipped with a 40 hp Salmson engine, it has a 4-C profile
thinned, a wingspan of 8.62 m and a total length of 5.84 m.

 

[avion ancien]

The pre-war French CNRA register on the Golden Years website has it as F-PAAK and described as Dessinis A.1 (q.v. http://www.shu-aero.com/AeroPhotos_Shu_Aero/Aircraft_C/Dessenis/Dessenis_AS_1_Esperance_01_large.jpg).

 

[Apophenia]

Good stuff avion ancien! The photo is identified as the Dessenis AS-1 with 'L’espérance clearly marked on its fuselage. On the rudder can be read 'Club-Aviation Valenciennes' (rather than the Aéro-club de Valenciennes one would expect). But no registration is visible.

In hesham's clipping, the type is identified as the Dessenis AD-1 'L’espérance (F-PARK), flying in October 1935. As for Golden Years, it is easy to imagine a typo (or mis-reading of visible registration marks) turning an 'R' into an 'A' or vice versa. By why the difference in designation - or designations, if two airframes are involved?

I'm not sure if this helps judge the accuracy of the TU 187 article but they got the year of M. Dellegrange's accident wrong - it was 18 Nov 1936 (not 1937).

L'eclaireur du finistere published a short notice of that accident:

Samedi 21 Novembre 1936

Une avionnette récemment construite, pilotée par M. Achille Dellegrange, âgé de 27 ans, agent d'assurances à Valenciennes, a capoté à l'atterrissage. Le pilote, qui a une double fracture du crâne, est dans un état désespéré.

Or, roughly ...

Saturday 21 November 1936

A recently built mini-plane piloted by 27-year-old Achille Dellegrange, an insurance agent in Valenciennes, overturned on landing. The pilot, who has a double skull fracture, is in a hopeless state.

A truncated version of that already short report appeared in L'aviation. Alas, neither version mentions this avionnette's registration, designation, the co-builder with Achille Dellegrange, or, indeed, Albert Dessenis.

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dears Avion and Apophenia,

and does anyone hear about Gustave Augustin Douchy two-seat airplane ?.

The Dessenis AS-1 picture,we can put it here.

 

[hesham]

From TU 187,

DESSENS:

Albert Dessenis, general secretary of the Aero-Club of Valenciennes in the North, was an artistic ironworker in this city (he had received the gold medal for the best workers in France).

Volunteering during the First World War, he started in 1916 as a student pilot at the Farman school. Seriously wounded in front of Verdun, he returned from the war with the Military Medal.

In the 1930s, seduced by the movement launched by Mignet in favor of popular aviation, he decided to build himself a small monoplane derived from the HM-8.

Named AD-1 “L’Espérance” (F-PARK), the machine flew in October 1935 with a 40 hp Salmson 9Ad. It quickly proved to be a success, with many hours of flight, numerous trips and successful participation in the Tour de France of prototypes (3500 km) proving this abundantly. The aircraft reached a maximum speed of 120 km/h.

So much so that two friends of the builder, including Mr. Dellegrange, decided to build a second one. This flew into the hands of Dessenis and then into those of his sponsors. Unfortunately, on November 18, 1937, the aircraft had an accident and
Dellegrange was killed. Following this accident, the Air Ministry withdrew Dessenis' pass and the aircraft no longer flew. Obviously, a lively controversy ensued in the press.

This unfortunate episode did not discourage our amateur who created in 1939, in collaboration with Mr. Guelton (carpenter in Valenciennes), another device called “the Seagull”. The plane flew for the first time on March 5, 1939 after 11 months of work.Monoplane, single-seater parasol equipped with a 40 hp Salmson engine, it has a slimmed down 4-C profile, a wingspan of 8.62 m and a total length of 5.84 m.

 

[Apophenia]

-- https://1000aircraftphotos.com/Contributions/Shumaker/13689.htm

hesham could we prevail upon you to proof and edit Google Translate results, thus avoiding unhelpful renderings? To wit:

DESSENIS:

Albert Dessenis, secretary-general of the Aéro-Club de Valenciennes ... Seriously wounded on the Verdun front, he returned from the war awarded the Médaille militaire...

... including M. Dellegrange ...

... Following this accident, the Ministère de l'Air withdrew Dessenis' permit-to-fly and the aircraft could no longer be flown.

... in collaboration with M. Guelton (a carpenter from Valenciennes), another device called «la Mouette» ['the Seagull'] ...[/U][/U]