Solved: PN #515 -- Sauterelle by Max de Lafargue, 1919

[pnegyesi]

Who built this car and when? A point is on offer

[pnegyesi]

Experts?

[pnegyesi]

Professionals?

[nicanary]

It looks like it was made from parts of a WW1 aircraft - the rear wheels are like the twin wheel arrangement of a bomber and the motor is a "pusher" radial. The occupants seem to be French Armee de l'Air and the topee worn by the other guy suggests that this could be situated in a French Colonial possession such as Senegal.

Made from the remains of a crashed plane ?

[pnegyesi]

yes, it seems to be the case

[Wendax]

AéroSable, a propeller driven car built by Max de Lafargue, commander of the 1st Air Squadron. The engine came from a crashed Farman 50 airplane.

[pnegyesi]

 

[Wendax]

The unmolested picture:

[Paul Jaray]

I think this is not the AeroSable.
According to what I found, this was the 1st vehicle built by Émile Dewoitine and designed by Max de Lafargue and its name was 'Sauterelle' (Grasshopper).
The AeroSable was the 2nd vehicle...the one below:
(BTW: I remember it was featured here too but can't find it back...)

[Paul Jaray]

Blame on Google Translator

"Sauterelle and Aérosable
The mechanical engineering and future aircraft manufacturer Emile Dewoitine in Biskra participated in the construction of a strange craft designed by Lieutenant Lafargue in order to travel fast through the Sahara.
The singular vehicle has a tubular steel frame suspended by bungee cords on three points and articulated in
any direction, allowing the deformation of the suspension in rough terrain. There is mounted on three axles each carrying two twin wheels air. Gnome rotary engine 50 horsepower four-bladed propeller directly attacks a propellant. The march of this curious vehicle 350 pounds is a series of hops that should allow it to cross areas
sandy but are bogged down and gave it its name: Grasshopper (Sauterelle). The main difficulty
is to stop it because, in the absence of idle and engine braking, the driver cut the engine and
passengers brace themselves in the sand to stop the machine capable of a speed of 60 km / h.
The success of the Grasshopper brings Lafargue to modify a Brasier car whose engine
60 hp Clerget then drives a propulsive six-blade propeller. This manages to Aérosable
linking Biskra to Touggourt at an average speed of 50 km / h. General Bailloud, himself, is
is carrying on about fifty kilometers. Tried until 1914, the Aérosable performs
hiking Touggourt Ouargla-El-Oued."

[pnegyesi]

thanks for the additional info, heading has been changed

[BERTRAND]

Identify this car and the year, please

[BERTRAND]

expert

[hermanoto]

Aerosable, made by Lafarge in 1913 on a Berliet chassis with a 60HP 4 cylinder engine, pictured in the Sahara

[Lavrakas]

This is the Sauterelle (or grasshopper) designed by a Corporal Gustave Cros for use in the sand deserts of north Africa. The date usually given is 1912. Although the basic concept is at best optimistic, the detail engineering looks professional by the standards of the time. The French army clearly took the project seriously: there is photographic evidence of two prototypes attributed to Clos (the magazine illustration may indicate a third or could just be an imaginative guess by the artist), which raises the question why Cros was only a corporal if he was indeed a professional engineer. Perhaps we are in Beau Geste territory and he had hurriedly enlisted in the French Foreign Legion to avoid a scandal. Then again, in 2013 a M. Gustave Cros described as a resident of France (Rhone) lodged a patent application for a more sensible all-terrain vehicle (see diagram) with both conventional transmission and propeller drive. The photo of the helicar with the enormous propeller is dated 1914 and the design is attributed to a Lieutenant La Fargue.

[Lavrakas]

Can't send pics at the moment. Will try later . . .

[Lavrakas]

Pics, I think!

[Lavrakas]

 Pics?

[BERTRAND]

one more point for you lavrakas, well done

[hermanoto]

this article says something else....

[Wendax]

The Sauterelle and the Aérosable were two different cars. This one is the Sauterelle, as I had to learn 10 years ago when it was puzzled before.
Merged.