These are all old builds, and in retrospect should have been posted at the beginning of these series. They often represent the first, hesitant steps on scratchbuilding.
Here is another from 2007, 12 years ago (original text as posted then):
Entomology for some reason seems an appropriate tool in dealing with this plane.
The join-venture that gave birth to the Elytroplan took place in France in 1937, between Charles de Rouge, Jacques de Chabrillan and Victor Bouffort. The curious may visit:
http://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_de_Roug%C3%A9
for further info.
So, what is an “elytron”? A pair of hardened front wings on some insects. I guess the French designers were referring to a pair of small vanes that in this case were located at the tip of a super-sized rudder. They were used to further improve control. Or so the legend goes.
In any case the design trend originated a small number of planes, unfortunately all of them destroyed later during war time. There is a plane from another designer preserved at the Musee de L’Air but, although using a similar concept, doesn’t bear a close resemblance to the first Elytroplan, having a horizontal “elytron” instead of vertical ones.
Daring job, being a test pilot, uh?
Thanks to fellow modeler Michel Barriere for spurring the creation of the model.