George Fernic Airplanes

[hesham]

Hi,

here is a story of Mr. George Fernic from his first aeronautic and his airplanes;

Mechanics were in his very blood. He studied at Academia Theresiana in Vienna, then in 1919 he went to Germany, where studied aerodynamics. In 1924 Fernic took over the bankrupt company Deutscher Lloyd Flugzeug Werke near Berlin and became its design director. For commercial reasons the company kept the original name. Here Fernic designed and built aircraft of his own design (Albatros Fernic B.II; Albatros Fernic B.III; Albatros Fernic L.26; DLFV Fernic D.VII), but also in order after the customer projects; he designed and built also a car called Fernic.
Early in 1927 George Fernic, with 2,500 flying hours to his credit, went to United States. First, he worked at Bellanca Aircraft Company in Marinero Harbor, then he bought Bellanca and founded Fernic Aircraft Corporation in New York. George had another passion: he participate whenever he has the opportunity to automobile racing and rallies, even at Indianapolis where he won the 500 miles in 1927. Fernic produced a model tandem-wing monoplane which immediately attracted the interest of experts. In wind tunnel tests, arranged by Guggenheim School of Aeronautics at New York University, the principles advanced by Fernic were substantial, and a great airplane with auxiliary wing mounted on the fore end of the fuselage, was built. The principle of "canard wing" is used today at famous air-fighters as Eurofighter or Saab 37 Grippen. The airplane was patented as FT-9 (Fernic Tandem 9) in 1929.
The second airplane of George Fernic, FT-10 Cruisair, a mono-motor for school and training based on same principles, obtained approvals on July 11, 1930. This airplane was also highly appreciated by connoisseurs. Intending to promote his products, George Fernic began in the summer of 1930 a demonstration tournament in America, managing to obtain a considerable number of orders. Unfortunately and inexplicable, on October 22, 1930, flying at Chicago, George G. Fernic died the death of an aviator. He joined the noble army of the pioneers, leaving a meritorious contribution to the progress of aviation.

http://surprising-romania.blogspot.com.eg/2010/04/george-fernic.html

 

[hesham]

And here is the original FT-9 Model.

http://hipnotim.blogspot.com.eg/2015/04/george-fernic-traieste-pentru-ca-eu.html

 

[Avimimus]

Very interesting.

According to this article the FT-9 had space for eight passengers, but was intended to be converted to a two seat airplane in order for a record breaking flight from New York to Bucharest:
http://www.poezie.ro/index.php/article/223112/Inventatorul_si_pilotul_Ge

 

[Avimimus]

Oh, and you can see the FT-9 nose over on landing in this video:
http://www.britishpathe.com/video/safety-plane-crashes-on-first-flight

(Note that this flight was reportedly not the first flight, but rather a later one).

 

[hesham]

Thank you my dear Avimimus.

 

[Deltafan]

Very interesting planes. The FT-9 seemed to be a very Advanced Aircraft.

Yes, thanks Avimimus.

We can see that this landing is only a little crash (weakness of the front Wheel ?).

 

[Cy-27]

A photo from Aero Digest of the FT-10 at Curtiss Airport..

 

[VictorXL188]

Yet another picture of the FT-10 Cruisaire.

 

[sienar]

"Vintage original press photo, 10x7.5", b&w. Lengthy press release on the reverse introduces Lt. George C. Fernic and his wife with a model of their unique canard design model in which they hope to fly the Atlantic to their home in Bucarest. The press release details all of the various design parameters of this unique aircraft. Very good."

Roumanian Pilot to Attempt Atlantic Crossing to Bucarest in His New Design - 1930

Vintage original press photo, 10x7.5", b&w. Lengthy press release on the reverse introduces Lt. George C. Fernic and his wife with a model of their unique canard design model in which they hope to fly the Atlantic to their home in Bucarest. The press release details all of the various design...

www.earlyaeronautica.com

 

[hesham]

Amazing fin my dear Sienar,

and may it was FT-11 ?.

 

[Kdmoo]

The T-9 under construction and after coming to grief.

 

[riggerrob]

Interesting how Fernic was among the first to understand how airflow from a canard affects airflow over the main wing.
Though his airplanes were not tail-first canards by modern definition, rather they are "3 surface."

 

[hesham]

Amazing fin my dear Sienar,

and maybe it was FT-11 ?.

There is another transport project for it,could be FT-12 ?.

 

[Tonton-42]

Can we assume that Mr Fernic’s work on the interaction between two tandem planes is similar to that of Mr Nenadovitch or Mr Starck? Because finally it seems to me that there is a great similarity of effects. I would go so far as to say that Mr. Mignet’s tandem wing formula is part of that family. Photo of the AS.37 designed by Mr. Starck and built by an amateur in 1977 ...

https://i0.wp.com/www.passionpourlaviation.fr/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/STARCK-PRIVE-MN66-80-239.jpg?resize=1024%2C692&ssl=1

 

[hesham]

There is another transport project for it,could be FT-12 ?.

And powered by three engines.

 

[hesham]

George Fernic, engineer, inventator of the canard wing (1900-1930),

Atthe age of only 17, he participated in aerial reconnaissance missions in support of the battles of Mărăşeşti and for this he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant. He graduated from the Polytechnic School of Vienna, worked in an aircraft building shop and bought Deutscher Lloyd Luft Flugzeugewerke in Germany. At Deutscher Lloyd Flugzeugewerke, Fernic carried out the project of his first plane (1921-1922), as well an automobile, simply named Fernic. In 1927, when Germany was in full turmoil, Fernic wanted to move the factory to Romania and required a land plot from the state. Turned down by the Romanian state, he sold the company in Germany and went to America, where he was employed by the company Bellanca. In 1928, he bought this company too and renamed it as the Fernic Aircraft Corporation, based in Richmond Terrace, Arlington, New York. He began work on his project called “aircraft with wings in tandem", which featured new principles for that time. The project was materialised in 1929 in the prototype FT-9 (the Fernic Tandem model 9). FT-9 was a twin-engine aircraft with 8 seats on which Fernic introduced, as a premiere, a smaller auxiliary wing, mounted in front of the main wing. This wing,similar to the horizontal empennage, increased longitudinal stability, reducing also the landing speed and the area necessary for manoeuvring. He died at the age of 30, at an aviation rally in the U.S. His legacy endures to this day, the auxiliary wing Fernic introduced being known as the “canard empennage” and being fitted in many modern aircraft, including the fighter aircraft Eurofighter, SAAB37 “Grippen” or Sukhoi SU-32, SU-33 and SU-34.

Romanian Pioneers in science and technics