1917 Curtiss-Goupil Duck - photos

[Altair]

1917 Curtiss-Goupil Duck. The aircraft was originally designed by Frenchman Alexandre Goupil in 1883 but only took off the drawing board when American aviation pioneer Glenn Curtiss built a working replica.






Previously:

Eshelman Flying Flounder - photo and video
Nyberg Flugan steam-powered aircraft - photos
1919 Ricci R4 concept transatlantic seaplane - photos
Caproni Ca.60 Transaereo flying boat - photo
1907 Multiplane - photo

[mklotz]

There's an old joke about British women's shoes. They look like they were designed by someone who had frequently heard of shoes but never actually seen any.

With apologies to all our French forum members, I have to say it. This looks like it was designed by someone who had heard of airplanes but never actually seen any.

[Crusty]

Hideous, just hideous, but with a Euro flair.

[Frank S]

And now we know where Gene Rodenberry got the idea for a Klingon warbird

[bruce.desertrat]

"...originally designed by Frenchman Alexandre Goupil in 1883"

Quite literally, *no one* had seen a working aircraft at that point. It does sort of follow Lillienthal's glider shape. I wonder if Curtis made the working example in an attempt to break the Wright patents on prior art grounds, or to gain his own...

[Rich42198]

There's an old joke about British women's shoes. They look like they were designed by someone who had frequently heard of shoes but never actually seen any.

With apologies to all our French forum members, I have to say it. This looks like it was designed by someone who had heard of airplanes but never actually seen any.

Marv, you are right. This plane was designed in 1883, so the designer never actually saw an airplane. Kind of impressive, actually. With the swept wings and aerodynamic cowl, he was ahead of his time.

[owen moore]

It looked like it had the potential for a "quack" up.