Lot Essay
The Paulham experimental used an exposed Warren-girder monospar made of streamlined elements from which flexible ribs were cantilevered and the wing gap was maintained by single interplane struts. The R.E.P. was one of two monoplanes (among seven pusher biplanes) to be exhibited at the first British Aero Show at Olympia in March 1909, designed by M. Esnault-Pelterie and priced at (an expensive) £1,400. Little is known about the Astra. Two biplanes were entered for the 1911 Circuit of Europe which started on 18 June. In 1913 were Astra licensed to build a 70 h.p. monoplane to Capt. John Dunne's design. The Donnet-Levêque flying boat (here with main wheels) appeared at 1911 Paris Salon. An example had been acquired by the Admiralty for the Naval Wing of the RFC at Eastchurch. A development, the Franco-British flying boat was entered by M. Burri of Switzerland in the 1914 Schneider Trophy contest. The Zodiac was designed by Gabriel Voisin for the French airship company Zodiac. Sir George White of Bristol Tramways Co. decided to build the Zodiac under licence and thus launched his company into aviation. When built at Filton it became the Bristol-Zodiac. Louis Moineau, a pre-war aviator, turned constructor in 1915. The engine of this experimental type was a single water-cooled 9-cylinder Salmson radial with Swiss Canton-Unnée crank; conrods drove a cage rotating on a crankpin via epicyclic gears (later versions had a conventional master rod). Each end of the shafts drove a span-wire shaft to a bevel gear and, ultimately, a propeller -- got it?