Voisin Canard

The Voisin Canard was an aircraft the Voisin brothers developed during 1910 and first flew early in 1911, and it took its name from the resemblance of its forward fuselage to a duck's long neck. Its layout looked back to Santos-Dumont's 14-bis of 1906, with an uncovered wire-braced wooden fuselage, the engine at the rear (first a 50 hp Rossel-Peugeot rotary) and the control surfaces out in front. It was flown first as a landplane, with Voisin's characteristic side curtains and ailerons on both upper and lower wings, and Voisin built a number of examples that differed in span, engine and number of curtains. Fitted with floats designed by Henri Fabre it became one of the first seaplanes used by the French Navy: it first flew from water on 25 April 1911, one example was bought in March 1912 for the seaplane tender La Foudre and a second was delivered in December 1913.