De Marçay Aircraft

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Aircraft and Baron Edmond de Marçay

This is more a tangle ball of yarn than a designations list. Some sources describe Edmond de Marçay as an aeronautical genius, others as an enthusiast with a pile of money. De Marçay did go through a string of partner engineers.

The first was a Dutchman, J. Kluijtmans (variously misspelled as 'Kluytmann', 'Kluytmans', or 'Kluytemans'). In 1906, Kluijtmans had designed the first airship in the Netherlands but this project had faltered due to lack of interest and financial resources. De Marçay was able to solve both problems. Together, they designed a radical dirigible (tested as a scaled-down airship built by Paul Leprince). Kluitjtmans went on to design heavier-than-air machines on his own but, AFAIK, no fixed-wing aircraft for de Marçay.

The first de Marçay heavier-than-air aircraft was designed with Emile Moonen. The 1911 de Marçay-Moonen monoplane was the first to feature folding wings for transport and storage. Together, de Marçay and Moonen had filed UK Patent 18,661 "Improvements in and relating to Aeroplanes and other Machines" in Oct 1909, describing the folding wings.
In 1912, Edmond de Marcay and Emile Moonen also proposed an oblique wing design for the first time. [1] "The idea was to vary sweep of oblique wings for landing in sideslip." [2]

[1] Hirschberg, M., D. Hart, and T. Beutner, A Summary of a Half-Century of Oblique Wing Research, 45th AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting and Exhibit, AIAA Paper 2007-150, Jan. 2007.

[2] "Conceptual Assessment of an Oblique Flying Wing Aircraft including Controls and Trim Characteristics", Ryan W. Plumley (Masters thesis), 2008, pg.3

From 1916-to-1918, Anonyme d'Etudes et de Construction Aéronautique Edmond de Marçay in Bordeaux built 400 x Spad VII C1s but there is no sign of special designations applied.

Later designs are assigned exclusively to de Marçay. But, in L'Aeronautique 166, mention is made of a M. Botalli associated with the engineering of a monoplane tourer designed by de Marçay (presumably the de Marçay T-2). And a long-term association between de Marçay and Botalli is implied.
http://archive.org/stream/la02b9eronautiqu04pari/la02b9eronautiqu04pari_djvu.txt

Établissements d'Edmond de Marçay

It is not clear to me what company name (if any) de Marçay's early aviation efforts fell under. Later, the Construction Aéronautique de Marçay was formed in Bordeaux (or, more formally, the Société Anonyme d'Etudes et de Construction Aéronautiques Edmond De Marçay -- shortened to S.A.E.C.A de Marçay or Construction Aéronautique Edmond De Marçay). In web searches, the Établissements Edmond de Marçay & Cie (Paris) will pop up. This was an unrelated de Marçay firm which made Anzani-powered Cyclecars from 1920-to-1923.

De Marçay Aircraft Designations

The earliest de Marçay aircraft are simply described (without real suggestive of a formal naming). Examples are the de Marçay-Kluytmans Dirigeable (aka dirigeable Kluytmans de Marçay) or Monoplan de Marçay-Moonen. As these early designs were built in very small numbers, perhaps it was thought that no name or designation was needed.

An exception was the 1912 de Marçay-Moonen L'Abeille ('Bee') ... although 'abeille' may also have been an early useage for light aircraft akin to 'avionnette'.

After WWI, de Marçay types were given numbers. Only four numbers are known ('3' is missing) but there is a numeral repetition with the 1919 de Marçay 2 C1 sesquiplane fighter and the 1920 de Marçay T-2 monoplane tourer.

I have also seen the de Marçay 2 C1 fighter described as the 'Type C'. I assume this to be a generic term -- 'C' being for 'Chasse'.

At this stage, I run out of de Marçay projects. So, was de Marçay an enthusiast financier. Or was he an amateur aircraft designer in need of engineering assistance? Can anyone help untangle the naming/designation mess? Can anyone add any other de Marçay aircraft designs?
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De Marçay Aircraft Names/Designations

De Marçay-Kluytmans Dirigeable - [Project] 1907 planned 2500 m3 airship*
-- * Paul Leprince-built testbed airship (below) was only 24 m long

De Marçay-Kluytmans Dirigeable - 1908 airship designed with J. Kluijtmans
- Dirigeable: Divided-body airship (with large-diameter prop in the gap)
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1917/1917%20-%201388.html
-- http://archive.org/stream/aeronautics12aero/aeronautics12aero_djvu.txt
-- http://images-01.delcampe-static.net/img_large/auction/000/180/772/707_001.jpg

De Marçay-Moonen - 1911, folding-wing* monoplane**, 13.5 m span, x 2
- De Marçay-Moonen: 1911, 1 x 50 hp Gnome, span 13 m, fully fabric-covered
-- * Folding-wing arrangement being to the design of M. Henri Chazal
-- ** Immense horiz. tail surfaces might suggest a tandem wing design
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1912/1912%20-%200007.html
-- http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft28620.htm
- De Marçay-Moonen: 1912, with fabric-covering of fuselage deleted

De Marçay-Moonen L'Abeille - 1912 single-seat, high-wing monoplane
- L'Abeille: 1912, under const'n at Camp de Châlons, Châlons-sur-Marne
-- http://www.modelflight.regheath.com/earlybirds/images/1912MarcayMoonen.jpg

De Marçay-Moonen - 1912 2-seat monoplane tested at Villacoublay*
-- * Possibly refers to the 2nd 1911 de Marçay-Moonen monoplane [??]

De Marçay-Moonen - 1913 single-seat monoplane* floatplane** racer
- De Marçay-Moonen: 1 x 100 hp Anzani tractor, raced at Monaco as #18
-- * Of 'Bielovucic' type (a ref to Juan Bielovucic's Hanriot-Pagny?)
-- ** Twin main floats + tail float design, typical of the period
-- http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft28756.htm

De Marçay-Moonen - 1914 double-biplane canard, tractor prop in nose*
- Canard: possibly built for the Concours de Sécurité)
-- * A rear-mounted engine drove this prop via an extension shaft
-- http://flyingmachines.ru/Site2/Crafts/Craft29358.htm

Anonyme d'Etudes et de Construction Aéronautique Edmond de Marçay

De Marçay 1 - [Project] 1918 single-seat sesquiplane fighter
- De Marçay 1 C1: Initial design powered by 290 hp Liberty L-8 V8
-- Note: 'Marçay C-1' (sic) prob. refers to the De Marçay 2 C1

De Marçay 2 - 1919 single-seat sesquiplane fighter, 300 hp HS 8Fb, span 9.25 m
- De Marçay 2 C1: aka Type C (or 'de Marçay 2 C-1')
-- http://www.aviafrance.com/de-marcay-2-aviation-france-330.htm

De Marçay T-2 - 1920 2-seat monoplane tourer, 1 x 60 hp rotary*, span 5.95 m
-- * L'Aeronautique 166 says 60 hp Gnome, Aviafrance says 60 hp Le Rhône
-- http://archive.org/stream/la02b9eronautiqu04pari/la02b9eronautiqu04pari_djvu.txt
-- http://www.aviafrance.com/de-marcay-t-2-aviation-france-7955.htm

De Marçay 3 - single-seat sesquiplane fighter, 1 x 300 hp Hispano-Suiza
- De Marçay 3: Construction begun but incomplete?
-- http://www.secretprojects.co.uk/forum/index.php/topic,15821.msg279598.html#msg279598

De Marçay 4 - 1923 single-seat parasol fighter, span 10 m, 1 x prototype
- De Marçay 4 C1: 1 x 300 hp HS 12Fb, crashed Villacoublay 29 May 1923

De Marçay 5 - 2-seat 'combat' and recce monoplane, with 1 x Lorraine*
-- ** Lorraine-Dietrich 370-400hp [?? 12D ??] or 450 hp [?? 12E ??]
- De Marçay 5: Construction begun but incomplete?

Undesignated Aircraft Designs Displayed at 1919 Paris Air Show

De Marçay Limousine biplane, 1 x 60 hp Le Rhône (with annular spinner)
- De Marçay 2-seat Limousine had a detachable coupé top (for Show only?)
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200047.html
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200048.html

De Marçay single-seat biplane tourer, monocoque fuselage
- De Marçay monocoque tourer: 1 x 60 hp Le Rhône (annular spinner)
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200047.html
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200048.html

De Marçay Passe-Partout single-seat biplane, 10 hp ABC air-cooled 2-cyl
- De Marçay Passe-Partout light a/c, 13' 1" span
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200065.html
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Excellent work my dear Apophenia,


and for Type 3,I have it,but where is it now?,I can't remember.
 
Apophenia, this forum (and especially this board) would not be quite the same without you... You're amazing!


Thank you so much for such quality research work... and a special extra thanks for minding the cedilla under the letter "c" in Marçay!!!
 
Wow, thanks guys!

Stargazer said:
... and a special extra thanks for minding the cedilla under the letter "c" in Marçay!!!

Çould anyone çonçeivably forget the çedilla? ;D

Hesham: Anything on the Type 3 would be most welcome ... I couldn't find a trace!
 
Hi,
The aircraft by De Marçay were covered by Charles Claveau in Trait d'Union no.263, notably describing two projects:
- Type 3, single-seat sesquiplane fighter with Hispano-Suiza 300hp engine, apparently unfinished
- Type 5, two-seat "combat" and reconnaissance monoplane, with Lorraine 370/400hp or 450hp engine, unfinished too

Apophenia said:
De Marçay single-seat biplane fighter, monocoque fuselage
- De Marçay monocoque fighter: 1 x 60 hp Le Rhône (annular spinner)
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200047.html
-- http://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1920/1920%20-%200048.html

About this aircraft, it was certainly not a fighter, more a tourism light aircraft.
 
Excellent! Many thanks for the additions and corrections, c460 :)
 
Contrary to the cheap slander in the caption, this Marçay-Moonen plane was not swing-wing, but folding-wing.
Apparently the British press wasn't much better then than now...
 
@dan_inbox That's probably from Uncle Roger / Roger Bacon, the one responsible for Flight's humourous page Straight And Level. And Flight's Christmas Quiz.
"Still a little late on the round out, Hoskins"
@hesham Can you provide the whole page, for context?
 
Thank you both. Indeed the context changes it.
Still not my cup of tea, but feeble humour rather than cheap slander.
 

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