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Levasseur PL.8

Levasseur PL.8
Faded brown postcard with a photograph of a white biplane. Two oval cameo pictures are above the aircraft, showing the faces of two men. On the left, is a clean-shaven healthy-looking man in his mid-30s, with a pilot's squint. On the right, is a slightly more heavyset man with a black eyepatch over his right eye.
1927 postcard showing L'Oiseau Blanc, with pictures of Nungesser (left) and Coli (right)
Role Long-range aircraft [for record attempt]
National origin France
Manufacturer Pierre Levasseur Company
First flight 1927
Introduction 1927
Primary user Charles Nungesser, François Coli
Number built 2
Developed from Levasseur PL.4

The Levasseur PL.8 was a single engine, two-seat long-distance record-breaking biplane aircraft modified from an existing Levasseur PL.4 carrier-based reconnaissance aircraft produced in France in the 1920s. Levasseur built the aircraft in 1927, specifically for pilots Charles Nungesser and François Coli for a transatlantic attempt to win the Orteig Prize. Only two examples of the type were built, with the first PL.8-01 named L'Oiseau Blanc (The White Bird), that gained fame as Nungesser and Coli's aircraft.

At the Pierre Levasseur Company in Paris, Nungesser and Coli, working closely with Chief Engineer Émile Farret and production manager Albert Longelot, assisted in the design of the new Levasseur PL.8 biplane. Based on the PL.4 developed for the Aéronavale to operate from the French aircraft carrier Béarn, the PL.8 was a conventional single-bay wood and fabric-covered biplane that carried a crew of two in a side-by-side open cockpit.

Major modifications included the reinforcement of the plywood fuselage, removing two of the forward cockpits with the main cockpit widened to allow Nungesser and Coli to sit side-by-side. The wingspan was also increased to approximately 15 m (49 ft). In adding two additional fuel tanks mounted aft of the firewall, the three fuel tanks held a total of 4,025 litres (1,056 gallons) of gasoline.

The PL.8 also incorporated several safety features in case of ditching at sea. Apart from small floats attached directly to the undersides of the lower wing, the main units of the fixed tailskid undercarriage could be jettisoned on takeoff in order to reduce the aircraft's weight. The underside of the fuselage was given a boat-like shape and made watertight for a water landing. Nungesser and Coli's plan was to make a water landing in New York in front of the Statue of Liberty

A single W-12 Lorraine-Dietrich 340 kilowatts (460 hp) engine was used with the cylinders set in three banks spaced 60° apart from one another, similar to the arrangement used in Napier engines. The engine was tested to ensure it would last the entire flight and was run for over 40 hours while still in the Parisian factory.


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Wikipedia

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