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17-602: Born in Favières, Somme to parents who farmed nearby in Romiotte , the Caudron brothers were educated at a college in Abbeville . Gaston, as Alphonse was always known, intended to become an engineer but his education was cut short by health problems; René was interested in the development of mechanics and was a sportsman. After military service in an artillery regiment, they returned to work on

34-448: A flying school there which was functioning by 19 May 1910. This activity flourished and by early 1913 a second school had been set up at Juvisy with a combined capacity of 100–250. The War Ministry sent about 30 student pilots there in 1913. By then the company was based at Rue, Somme . During World War I, the company moved its production to Lyon and Issy-les-Moulineaux , as the Somme plant

51-496: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Caudron C.440 The Caudron C.440 Goéland ("seagull") was a six-seat twin-engine utility aircraft developed in France in the mid-1930s. It was a conventionally configured low-wing cantilever monoplane with tailwheel undercarriage . The main undercarriage units retracted into the engine nacelles . Construction was wooden throughout, with wooden skinning everywhere but

68-581: The Wehrmacht . It also repaired aircraft. In February 1942, Willy Messerschmitt requested that Caudron produce the Messerschmitt Me 164 , a Si-104 rival, but that was sabotaged. The Issy-les-Moulineaux plant was almost completely destroyed by RAF and AAF bombings that took place in September 1943, leaving it permanently out of production. In 1944, the remaining Caudron-Renault operations were nationalised by

85-577: The D140 road, 2 miles (3 km) from the estuary of the river Somme , some 12 miles (19 km) northwest of Abbeville . Favières is served by a halt on the metre gauge railway from Noyelles-sur-Mer to Le Crotoy . The railway is now a heritage railway , the Chemin de Fer de la Baie de Somme , which formerly formed part of the Réseau des Bains de Mer . This Arrondissement of Abbeville geographical article

102-624: The French government and became part of the Société Nationale de Construction aéronautique du Centre. ( Association Aéroplanes Caudron Frères / Société des avions Caudron ) Favi%C3%A8res, Somme Favières ( French pronunciation: [favjɛʁ] ) is a commune in the Somme department in Hauts-de-France in northern France . The commune is situated on

119-696: The Renault Aviation division led by François Lehideux (as top manager), Marcel Riffard (as aircraft body chief designer) and Charles-Edmond Serre (aircraft engine chief designer). The Issy-les-Moulineaux plant improved synergies with the Billancourt engine plant, as both were in the Paris area. In 1937, Renault bought out René Caudron's minority stake. As part of Renault, Caudron centred on producing light, sportier aircraft powered by either inline-four or inline-six cylinder engines, mirroring its automotive range at

136-416: The airfield at Bron . René continued in the aircraft business until the fall of France at the start of World War II . He died in 1959. Needing a more convenient base than the farm, the brothers established their factory in nearby Le Crotoy , on the eastern side of the Somme estuary about 16 km (10 mi) from Abbeville and with a broad, flat, firm, south facing beach ideal for flying. They set up

153-477: The farm. They began to build their first aircraft, a large biplane , in August 1908. Initially unable to obtain an engine, they flew it as a glider, towed by a horse, and tested it through the summer. In September 1909, they finally flew it under power. By April 1910, they were able to make a return flight of 10 km (6 mi) to Forest-Montiers . Gaston Caudron died in an aircraft accident on 15 December 1915 at

170-488: The forward and upper fuselage sections, which were skinned in metal. As usually configured, the cabin seated six passengers with baggage compartments fore and aft, and a toilet aft. Apart from private buyers, the C.440 was also bought by the Armée de l'Air , Aéronavale , Aéromaritime , Régie Air Afrique and Air France , and some were exported for service with Aeroput . Production of the C.440 and its subtypes continued until

187-518: The outbreak of World War II , at which time many C.440s were impressed into military service. Following the fall of France, some were operated by the German Luftwaffe and Deutsche Luft Hansa . Another user was the Slovenské vzdušné zbrane - it ordered 12 aircraft as the C.445M in 1942. Production began again after the war for military and civil use as a transport and as a twin-engined trainer. In

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204-462: The postwar reorganisation of the French aircraft industry, Caudron became part of SNCA du Nord and the aircraft became the Nord Goéland ; 325 of these were built. Postwar commercial operators included Air France, SABENA , Aigle Azur and Compagnie Air Transport (CAT). General characteristics Performance Related lists Note: Official RLM designations had the prefix "8-", but this

221-515: The time. Riffard was an expert on streamlined designs, which helped to achieve good speeds on low power. Caudron-Renault aircraft set several records in the 1930s. In August 1934, Hélène Boucher , on board her C 450 , achieved the world record average speed for 100 kilometres, 1000 kilometres, and the world female speed record. In December 1934, Raymond Delmotte got a land aircraft world speed record of 505 km/h on board his C 460 . According to Popular Aviation , by November 1935 Caudron-Renault

238-573: Was consolidated as the headquarters and main production base. In 1933, Caudron was acquired by Renault , following pressure from the French Air Ministry, which was seeking consolidation in the aircraft industry. At the time, Renault was increasing its involvement in the aviation field. Renault took a controlling 55% stake while René Caudron kept the remaining 45%. both the Société des Avions Caudron and Renault's aircraft engine branch were integrated into

255-513: Was hit by the Great Depression and, in 1938, it spun off Caudron-Renault into a separate, autonomous subsidiary in order to focus on its core automotive business. After France was occupied by Nazi Germany during World War II, Caudron-Renault produced trainers, auto bodies, Messerschmitt aircraft parts, Messerschmitt Bf 108s the Caudron's Simoun and Goéland ranges, the Siebel Si-204 , for

272-450: Was producing the following models: the C 272-3 Luciole (2-seat light biplane aircraft), the C 282-8 Phalene VIII (4-seat light monoplane), the C 360 (monoplane), the C 366 Atalante (a monoplane based on an earlier model), the C 440 (twin-engined low-wing cabin monoplane), the C 450 (1-seat racing monoplane), the C 460 (1-seat racing monoplane) and the C 530 Rafale (high-performance, 2-seat light monoplane). By 1936, Renault

289-528: Was too close to the battle front. Designers of many aircraft like the two-seater Caudron G.3 that successfully landed on Mont Blanc in 1921, Caudron produced the trainers in which thousands of pilots got their first flying licence. The Caudron plants at Lyon and Issy-les-Moulineaux produced nearly 4,000 airplanes during World War I. In 1920, the Lyon plant stopped assembling and the Issy-les-Moulineaux site

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