Gourdou-Leseurre Prototypes & Projects


The Text,

Contrary to all appearances, this is most likely a Gourdou-Lesseure project, even though the model has no markings that could formally attest to this and it does not resemble any aircraft from this manufacturer; in fact, the Gourdou-Leseurre company never built a high-wing seaplane.

What links the model to this manufacturer is the presence of a base on which it was fixed. Given the design of this base and the inscription "Gourdou Leseurre Paris" on it, it is very likely that the model could have served, after the abandonment of the project, as a promotional and/or decorative object, as was done at the time ( a preview of the base: here) .

It is a high-wing seaplane with a wingspan of 67.5 cm and a length of 59.5 cm. The wing rests on a central pylon and four brass masts. Floats should logically have been provided at the wingtips for the stability of the assembly. The rudder is, on this model, the only moving part.
 
what was it ?, a single seat light bomber ?.
Yes, it's a B1 (single-seat bomber).

it does not resemble any aircraft from this manufacturer; in fact, the Gourdou-Leseurre company never built a high-wing seaplane.
For me, it really looks like the Loire Gourdou Leseurre M2 seaplane:
 

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Here is an original side view drawing of the GL 601 B1:

I think that,also Gourdou G-610B was a bomber ?,from
George Messier's site.
 

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It is pointless to quote from sites which are just mirror sites of Wikipedia.
Worse, very often the mistakes have been fixed in Wikipedia but the mirror pages continue to have them!
Please make an effort to quote from reliable sources, aviation publications or websites, not pages like that...

GL.60: most certainly an early iteration of GL.601... (or perhaps just the generic name of that program)
 
GL.60: most certainly an early iteration of GL.601... (or perhaps just the generic name of that program)

May the opposite is the right ?,we can assume that G.601 means
G.60-1 and G.610 indicates to G.61-0,why not ?!.
 
May the opposite is the right ?,we can assume that G.601 means
G.60-1 and G.610 indicates to G.61-0,why not ?!.
You refuse to understand what you're told and always make a point of contradicting everything with no valid arguments.
OF COURSE "601" always means 60-1 and 610 always means 61-0... Any Type 60 always starts with 60 or 60 (60-0) then 601 (60-1) etc. You are stating the obvious... but that's not the point!
Let's stop the discussion here. You are becoming annoying.
 
It took me an entire week...

It all started as a simple project to cut out the 18-chapter Aviation Magazine International study of Gourdou-Leseurre by Jean Liron and turn it into individual files for my folders... but then I got carried away. And being a perfectionist of sorts, once the idea of this PDF book was born, there was no stopping me! Tons of image edition to make the poor scans presentable and readable, text reorganization, a few photos and captions added, it was all fun work... until I decided that the book was not really a book without an index... I wanted it to be the book I'd love to find on a bookstore stand, and no good book comes without an index... A NIGHTMARE! Just the index took me an entire day! But I'm pretty glad about the result, and I hope the handful of folks with an interest in those vintage French aircraft will think the same.

This 70-page PDF is here for all of you to download, no questions asked, free of charge, no catch. I wanted to share it here, but the server tells me it's too big for an attachment (22 Mb). So if you're interested, you can download it from WeTransfer here (expires on Nov. 6):

That being said... while I was giving it the final touches, it dawned on me that if someone else was crazy enough to produce a similar work on a subject I love, I'd want to encourage them in a concrete way to thank them for their efforts.

And so, although I cannot and would not sell this PDF, which consists of existing material I have no rights over—and which was first and foremost a labour of love, anyway (and a nice way to practice some of my skills I no longer use professionally)—I hope you won't frown at the suggestion that, if you truly enjoy the result, a little contribution for my efforts, however small, would make the whole thing even more rewarding to me and encourage me to do more stuff like that in the future.


1762207821532.png


vignettes.jpg
 
Can I ask you Stargazer,about what was GL-D ,also GL-ED ?.
 
Can I ask you Stargazer,about what was GL-D ,also GL-ED ?.
Ha! I was wondering when someone was going to find those easter eggs.

These two projects were mentioned in three consecutive issues of Taschenbuch der Luftflotten. At first I thought they were just alternative designations for known types, but I found that the engine power and roles were different.

Since TdL was a generally well-documented and reliable source, I don't think they invented those designations. Gourdou-Leseurre was probably planning to market those two aircraft (likely variants of the GL-32) but it never happened. The GLD fighter is mentioned in the 1924-25 and 1928-29 editions; the GLED sport type only appears in the 1927 edition.

Taschenbuch der Luftflotten 1924-25.jpg
Taschenbuch der Luftflotten 1927.jpg
Taschenbuch der Luftflotten 1928-29.jpg

In the book there is another Gourdou-Leseurre project mentioned, that was not previously discussed on our forum (at least directly): the 1928 twin-engine flying boat for the Paris-Madagascar raid. The sources for this one are L'Aérophile, March 1, 1928 and a variety of newspapers which repeated the same information (I'm including two: La Bailleuloise, April 1, 1928 and L'Indochine Républicaine, April 27, 1928):

L'Aérophile 1928-03A.jpg
La Bailleuloise, 1928-04-01.jpg
L'Indochine Républicaine, 1928-04-27.jpg

I believe the wind-tunnel model of a monoplane M model probably depicts that project.
 
Few other views showing the end of life of this model:
Here are 2 more views of the GL 710 taken at the same time - at the Mureaux airfield in 1940. From Icare 230.
 

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