Famous constructers: Gabriel Voisin (Part 1)

The automobile company Avions Voisin covered by its activities whole inter-war period (1919-1939) and enrolled in the motoring history by the motoring remarkably wide range of structures, outside the conventions.

Gabriel Voisin was born on the 5th of February 1880 at the East of France in Belleville-sur-Saône. His talents showed off during his studies in Lyon and later on in Paris, where he studied Industrial Design. At the turn of the 19th and 20th century, he constructed with his younger brother Charles, for his own pleasure, a rifle own design as well as the steamer and light truck.

After his studies at the Art School, Gabriel Voisin joined the Paris Architectural Studio, but at the World Expo in 1900 he got amazed by the “Flying machines”. In April 1904 after completing the military service, he got to test-flying of the American Wright Brothers aircraft copy. The 20 meters jumps didn’t satisfy him, so he improved the design – including stabilizing surfaces. Although the prototype crashed, however with another but this time Voisin, in June 1905 flew around 600 meters. He started the business with Louis Bleriot, but after a year they broke up and Gabriel joined forces with his brother Charles. They build for Henry Farman Voisin-Farman I, the first European airplane, which was able to handle a kilometer stretch not only the straight direction, but also swirling. In 1909, just 29 years old Gabriel Voisin became the youngest Knight of the Legion of honour.

The main impulse for the development of the business aviation “Voisins brothers”, was the commencement of supplies to the French army (1912) and the outbreak of the First World Ward (1914). They have delivered thousands of the machines, mainly with Salmson engines, Renault and Peugeot.

According to Gabriel Voisin in 1918 his attention turned from the airplanes to automobiles for 2 reasons: in addition to the trauma from the military deployment on his constructions scattering the death, was in the game the extension of the businessman. The military orders were coming to the end and 2000 qualified employees could effectively apply only in the production of sophisticated equipment.

Voisin well catered for diversification: the early years of the 20th he falls on a market “Motor-Fly” wheel directly associated with gasoline motor and fuel tank with a capacity of 2.5 liters, fitted to a bicycle frame. At the same time he came to the market with prefabricated houses with the living space of the 35, 75 or 105 meters “to be customized in just three days.

The development of the cars bearing his name, Voisin confided to the care of his talented colleague Andre Lefébr.
Later the father of the revolutionary Citroën Traction Avant, 2CV (“duck”) and DS (“goddess”), for him during the war, designed among other things, the suspension for the aircraft. The automaker Avions Voisin, opened the Paris suburb of Issy-les-Moulineaux, a risky phase of preparations to facilitate the purchase of the license to slide engines Knight (details you find in a last week article), and they stake on their own extensive experience with aluminum alloys.