RENÉ ALLARD

Collection of Reg Winstone, 5-8-04

REQUEST FOR HELP via email from Reg Winstone, 4-7-04 Dear Mr Mike Allard: May I ask your permission de reproduce the photograph you posted on Ralph Cooper's site showing Alphonse de Ridder in the curiously camouflaged Voisin? I write "Les Fumistes", the English journal of Les Amis de Gabriel Voisin ( a non-profit organisation of some 60 members) and I'd like to include the image in a forthcoming feature on those who flew the standard civilian Voisin biplane between 1907 and 1911. I have to ask also whether you are by any chance related to the Allard who flew a Voisin (see above, about whom I can find absolutely nothing. Best wishes Reg Winstone, May 7, 2004

 

ONLINE RESOURCES      If you search for "René Allard +aviation +voisin"using Google, (5-23-04), you will find two very helpful links.

Georges Legagneux, l'homme oiseau      This website offers a very interesting and comprehensive story of Georges Legagneux, one of the most famous of all French aviators of the time. Unfortunately for those of us who only read English, the text is entirely in French. However, for my own benefit, and that of my English-speaking visitors, I have tried to translate some portions of the article which mention René Allard. You can access the original article by clicking on the title above.

THE ANJOU CIRCUIT, 1912      In 1912, Legagneux tries a return in the French air meetings. The first great competition inhehich it participates is the circuit of Anjou race, organized by the Rene brothers and Pierre Gasnier of Frène and by the Aero club of France, in June 1912. The circuit of Anjou is a triangle , Angers - Saumur - Cholet, of 156 km, to be covered between 9 in the morning and 19 hours in the evening, three times on Sunday June 16 and four times the following day, for a total of 1,100 kilometers. The premiums are high: the winner gains 50 000 francs (price of the Aero club), plus 20 000 francs for the race speed. Competitors in the Circuit of Anjou, 1912, Competing for the Grand Prize of the Aero club of France. (Source: The Air Review).      Roland Garros, piloting his Blériot, has only one 1911 monoplane with a Gnome 50 ch engine. His machine is n° 6 in this race. The Britisher Gustav Hamel, in a Blériot n° 7, already has the new Gnome 80.

No. 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36

Pilot Gaubert Labouret Tabuteau Espanet Bedel Garros Hamel Brindejonc Bobba Renaux Bielovucic Allard Legagneux Hanouille Mouthiere Obre Audemars J Védrines Hélen Molla Wynmalen Wagner Frey Ehrmann Labouchére Renaux Laugarot Fischer Mesguich Vidart Verstraeten Pierre Béard Bielovucic Divétain Grazzioli

Apparatus Astra Astra Morane-Salunier Nieuport Morane-Saulnier Blériot Blériot Morane-Saulnier Morane-Saulnier Farman Voisin Caudron Zens Blériot Morane-Saulnier Monoplan Blériot Deperdussin Nieuport REP Breguet Hanriot Hanriot Deperdussin Zodiac M Farman M Farman H Farman Morane-Saulnier Deperdussin Sommer Blériot De Marcay Ladougne Blériot

Motor Renault 90 ch Renault 70 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 50 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 70 ch Antoinette 60 ch Anzani 100 ch Antoinette 50 ch Anzani 60 ch Gnome 80 ch GNome 70 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 100 ch Gnome 80 ch REP 75 ch Canton-U 80 ch Gnome 70 ch Gnome 70 ch Gnome 100 ch Clerget 100 ch Renault 90 ch Renault 70 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 80 ch Gnome 100 ch Anzani 60 ch Anzani 60 ch Anzani 100 ch Gnome 80 ch Anzani 60 ch

René Allard flew his 1912 Caudron biplane propelled by the new Anzani 100 star engine and carries the number 12. George Legagneux teams with Robert Martinet in the monoplane 1910 Paul Zens monoplane with the antique Antoinette 50 engine, carrying the number 14 and with which he is not likely to finish the test. Let us note the absence of number 13. Biélovucic gave up his heavy Voisin biplane and piloted the very new Marcay monoplane with an Anzani engine of 100 CH.      In consequence of the bad weather, the race was a catastrophe. Allard destroyed his biplane on the takeoff, as did Biélovucic. Bedel made a "wooden horse" on takeoff; Hélen and the Legagneux-Martinet crew gave up on the first turn. Only four aeroplanes left on June 16, Garros' Blériot, Hélen's Nieuport, the Morane-Saulnier and Legagneux. Only four pilots managed to make the first turn because of the wind and the rain: Garros, Hamel, Espanet and Brindejonc of Moulinais. But the race became even less interesting; Espanet broke down in Cholet (the Maineet-Loire) in the second turn. After the second turn, there remained only two competitors: Garros (Blériot) and Brindejonc des Moulinais, (Morane-Saulnier), who arrived in time. Garros was the only one to make the third turn.

 

La société des moteurs Gnôme      This is another quite remarkable resource which offers many stories and pictures of aviation in France in 1912. It includes only a brief reference to René Allard, but does mention many of his contemporaries and offers photographs of many of the aviators and their aeroplanes. You can access the site by clicking on the title above. The text is all in French, but a link to a machine translation is available.

 

LE FUMISTES the English journal of Les Amis de Gabriel Voisin via email from Reg Winstone, 4-7-04      For your information, the other lesser-kown "Voisinistes" I’ve been tracking down with little success (i.e., apart from Kapferer, Delagrange, Farman, Moore-Brabazon, Bunau-Varilla, Bielovucic, Brégi, Champel, Colliex, de Caters, de Salvert, Elise Deroche, Ferber, Fournier, Gaudart, Gobron, Houdini, Metrot, Paulhan, Sanchez Besa and Rougier) are: René Cosic Mortimer Singer Rugere (a bit later - 1912) Victor Rigal Richet Renaud (1910) Picquerez Pecquet Ernest Paul Nogues Moreing Mignot Kinet Jacquelin Hallaure Guillaume de Mauriac Gabriel Forest Dufour De Vallieres De Ridder De Baeder Bellot      Allessandro Anzani apparently flew an Anzani-engined one also, but I can only find one (possible erroneous (you know how these things are) postcard.      "Les Fumistes" isn’t available online yet, though it will soon be so on the Automobiles Voisin site (http://perso.wanadoo.fr/automobiles-voisin/); in the meantime, I’ll gladly send you a copy of our latest (Farman) issue.      If you ever think I could be of any help, please don’t hesistate... Best wishes and thanks again Reg

 

I don't know the dates of his birth or death.

 

Editor's Note: If you have any more information on any of these pioneer aviators, please contact me. E-mail to Ralph Cooper

 

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