Charles Weymann

Charles Terres Weymann
Charles Weymann with his Gordon Bennett-winning Nieuport monoplane
Born	(1889-08-02)2 August 1889 Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Died	August 1976 (aged 86–87) France
Occupation	early aviator, inventor and successful businessman

Charles Terres Weymann (2 August 1889 – 1976) was a Haitian-born early aeroplane racing pilot and businessman. During World War I he flew for Nieuport as a test pilot and was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

Weymann was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 2 August 1889 of an American father and Haitian mother. It has been suggested that his mother and US-born father were on a liner in Haitian waters at the time of his birth. He spoke fluent English and French and seems to have had dual US & French nationality but resided permanently in France. He died in France in 1976.

After the war Charles Weymann used his knowledge of airframe manufacture to develop a system of making fabric bodies for road vehicles. He opened factories in Paris in 1921, London in 1923 and Indianapolis in 1928. The market for these grew enormously and Weymann licensed his system to many of Europe's most prestigious marques.

A change of fashion in the late 1920s led to a demand for gloss painted bodies and the fabric market disappeared. A system was developed using metal panels with a similar flexible mounting allowing movement between panels. It was used on coachbuilt bodies but it did not suit the demands of mass-production.

The French factory closed in 1930 followed by Indianapolis in 1931. The British plant had turned to the manufacture of bus bodies and survived (as Metro Cammell Weymann) but Weymann resigned from the company in 1932.

He maintained his interest in developing equipment for the automotive industry. In 1963 he obtained a patent for an automatic clutch but it did not meet with commercial success.

Weymann returned to aviation with the engineer Georges Lepère and continued to design aircraft, such as the Weymann 66 and autogyros at Société des Avions C T Weymann.

Weymann brought a Stutz DV16 Blackhawk team to Le Mans 1928 and they finished second in the race – to a Bentley.