Levasseur: the company and the aircraft that made its name
Propellers from the rue de Javel
Pierre Levasseur entered aviation at 19, showing a helicopter propulsion device at the first Paris aero show in 1909. In a small workshop on the rue de Javel he began carving wooden propellers, and by 1911 Levasseur propellers drove aircraft by Blériot, Nieuport and Deperdussin. In 1913 he built other people’s designs, including the Tubavion of Ponche and Primard, described by French Wikipedia as the world’s first attempt at an all-metal aeroplane. By the 1918 Armistice he had produced 350 SPAD fighters, wings for FBA flying boats and more than 1,500 propellers.
Aircraft that could swim
Between the wars Levasseur became a specialist supplier to the French Navy. His biplanes had a trademark safety feature: a watertight, boat-shaped fuselage and jettisonable undercarriage, so a crew could put down on the sea and float, though not take off again. The PL.2 torpedo bomber, designed with Blackburn, was the first type to serve aboard France’s first aircraft carrier, Béarn, and the PL.4, PL.7 and PL.10 followed it onto the deck. The PL.7s were still aboard, thoroughly obsolete, in 1939.
The White Bird
Levasseur’s fame came from a failure. In 1927 the firm modified a PL.4 into the PL.8 for the war ace Charles Nungesser and navigator François Coli, who were chasing the Orteig Prize for the first non-stop Paris to New York flight. Painted white, with Nungesser’s skull-and-coffin emblem, L’Oiseau Blanc left Le Bourget on 8 May 1927 and was never seen again. Its jettisoned undercarriage is the only confirmed relic. Pierre Levasseur died in Paris in 1941.
Levasseur in numbers
公司
- 简而言之
- 成立于1910年
- Set up in Paris by Pierre Levasseur, initially making propellers
- Built designs by others from 1913
- Supplier of carrier aircraft to the Aéronavale
生产
- 最出名的是
- PL系列海军双翼飞机
- 350 SPAD fighters and 1,500-plus propellers in the First World War
- PL.4, PL.7, PL.10 carrier aircraft; PL.8 L’Oiseau Blanc
今天
- 现在
- 已停业
- Founder Pierre Levasseur died in 1941
L’Oiseau Blanc’s undercarriage is displayed at the Musée de l’Air et de l’Espace.
这些数字
- SPAD fighters built under licence
- 3501914–1918
- Propellers built
- more than 1,5001914–1918
- Own types for the French Navy
- about 15
Every notable Levasseur aircraft
| 飞机 | 角色 | 首航 | 建造 | 地位 | 笔记 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| SPAD fighters (licence) | 战斗机 | 350 | 已退休 | ||
| Levasseur PL.2 | 航母鱼雷轰炸机 | 已退休 | Designed with Blackburn; first type aboard the carrier Béarn | ||
| Levasseur PL.4 | Carrier reconnaissance | 1926 | 40 | 已退休 | |
| Levasseur PL.7 | 航母鱼雷轰炸机 | 1928 | 46 | 已退休 | Still aboard Béarn in 1939 |
| Levasseur PL.8 | Long-distance record aircraft | 1927 | 2 | 已退休 | L’Oiseau Blanc, lost 8 May 1927 |
| Levasseur PL.10 | Carrier reconnaissance | 1929 | 63 | 已退休 | |
| Levasseur PL.15 | Torpedo floatplane | 1932 | 17 | 已退休 | |
| Levasseur PL.400 | Artillery observation / liaison | 1939 | 已退休 |
Where Levasseur built, who led it, what it achieved
工厂
- Rue de Javel workshop · Paris, 15th arrondissement — First propeller workshop; replaced in wartime by a site at place Félix-Faure
人们
- Pierre Levasseur · founder (1890–1941) — Propeller maker and naval aircraft builder
- François Denhaut · chief pilot of the flying school — Later known for the first flying boat
- Émile Farret · chief engineer — Worked on the PL.8 with Nungesser and Coli
纪录和第一
- PL.2 was the first aircraft type to equip the carrier Béarn, 1926
Levasseur, year by year
Pierre Levasseur exhibits at the first Paris aero show and buys the Fernandez licence
Société Pierre Levasseur Aéronautique set up in Paris
Levasseur propellers fitted to Blériot, Nieuport and Deperdussin aircraft
Builds the Tubavion all-metal aircraft for Ponche and Primard
War ends with 350 SPADs and 1,500-plus propellers delivered
PL.2 joins the carrier Béarn
L’Oiseau Blanc leaves Le Bourget and disappears
PL.10 first flies; 63 built
Pierre Levasseur dies in Paris
Everything people ask about Levasseur
Who built L’Oiseau Blanc?
Why did Levasseur aircraft have boat-shaped fuselages?
What did Levasseur make before aircraft?
Which Levasseur aircraft served on the carrier Béarn?