CLEMENT ADER MOVIE PROJECT

Posté le 16 décembre 2014 de Toni G.

Clément Ader's Avion 3 at Salon Aéronautique 1909 — Clément Ader’s Avion 3 at « Le Grand Palais » in Paris, France – 1909

What if aviation history had to be rewritten?

Has Clément Ader had a lot of clout in aviation history? This is one of the questions and issues a brand new project will examine and try to answer.

« Clément Ader – le film » (Clément Ader – the movie) project was born a few months ago thanks to a French team led by Sylvain Thomas – an aviation geek, with extensive experience in light aircraft videos, and as a former chief editor of an aviation magazine – and Thomas Leroux who has extensive experience as a TV channel director.

It all started by the idea of re-writing aviation history as far as Ader is concerned for the French engineer may not have revealed the whole of his activity. Some Satory archives were released in 1990 only. Besides, it has been clearly established that Clément Ader used to be bound by military secrecy, and it is believed that the inventor may have well hidden some of his projects. Besides, he happened to undervalue his performance. Was it any confession? Or odd attitude? Anyway, the plot lies in the first part of the film and consists of a fiction that reports earlier Ader’s flights that could have happened in the 1870s whereas the second part is a documentary developped by several aviation experts and historians. We cannot tell you more, of course.

The directors placed their idea on Ulule – a crowdfunding website, and they gathered enough money for starting up. They have received considerable support from José Garcia, the French movie star – and pilot – and the actress and singer Véronique Jeannot who used to sponsor the Patrouille de France, and brought out the album « Aviateur » in 1988. The guest stars have sponsored « Rêves de gosse« , an association helping impaired children. More than a hundred other avgeeks gave their support in the crowdfunding, and the film is now on the making. Xavier Cotton (http://passiondesavions.blogspot.fr/) is one of them, and he has already helped Prepa PLS Anglais a lot with his photos, and given his expertise in the field of aeronautics.

Clément Ader – le film & Prepa PLS Anglais have spontaneously begun a partnership, helping each other as often as possible. It must be noted that both structures share the same interests, particularly by promoting aviation history, and even rewriting it. You will be kept posted sooner or later…

The team has already released a few quite interesting videos which deal with aeronautical issues in the broadest sense on their their Youtube channel in a French-speaking series called « Avianoob ». It is worth a visit, and may represent learning resource for BIA(Brevet d’Initiation Aéronautique) as well as CAEA (Certificat d’Aptitude à l’Enseignement Aéronautique) candidates.

Last, not the least, Sylvain and Thomas, to their credit, made the decision of donating part of the profits from DVD sales to « Rêves de gosse« .

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En français:

Peut-on dire que Clément Ader a beaucoup marqué l’histoire de l’aviation de son influence? C’est une des questions qu’un projet flambant neuf tentera d’élucider.

Le projet « Clément Ader – le film » a vu le jour il y a quelques mois grâce à une équipe menée par Sylvain Thomas (fan d’aviation avec une grande expérience sur le tournage de vidéos d’avions légers, il fût rédacteur-en-chef d’un magazine sur l’aviation) et Thomas Leroux qui a une grande expérience comme réalisateur d’une chaîne télévisée.

Tout a commencé avec l’idée de réécrire l’histoire de l’aviation en ce qui concerne Ader car il se peut que l’ingénieur français n’ait pas tout dévoilé de son activité. Des archives de Satory ne furent rendues publiques qu’en 1990. D’autre part, il a clairement été établi que jadis, Clément Ader était tenu au secret militaire et on croit qu’il se peut que certains projets de l’inventeur aient bien été cachés. Par ailleurs, il est arrivé qu’il minimise ses performances. Etait-ce un aveu? Ou une étrange attitude? Bref, l’histoire, dans la première partie du film consiste en une fiction selon laquelle des précédents vols d’Ader auraient pu avoir lieu dans les années 1870 tandis que la seconde partie est un documentaire développé par des experts de l’aviation et des historiens. Bien entendu, nous ne pouvons pas vous en dire plus.

Les réalisateurs on mis leur idée en ligne sur Ulule (un site de crowdfuning) et ils ont rassemblé suffisamment de fonds pour démarrer leur projet. Ils ont bénéficié d’un appui considérable de José Garcia, la star du cinéma et pilote d’aviation et de l’actrice chanteuse Véronique Jeannot qui avait été une marraine de la Patrouille de France et avait sorti l’album « Aviateur » en 1988. Les deux vedettes du petit et du grand écran ont parainné « Rêves de gosse« , une association qui aide les enfants en difficulté ou en situation de handicap. Une grosse centaine de pasionnés d’aviation ont apporté leur soutien lors du crowdfunding et la réalisation du film est en cours. L’un d’entre eux est Xavier Cotton (http://passiondesavions.blogspot.fr/) qui a déjà beaucoup aidé Prépa PLS Anglais avec ses photos et grâce à son expertise dans le domaine de l’aéronautique.

Clément Ader – le film et Prepa PLS Anglais ont spontanément démarré un partenariat dans une aide mutuelle aussi fréquente que possible. Il faut dire que les deux structures partagent les mêmes intérêts. Particulièrement en faisant la promotion de l’histoire de l’aviation et même en la réécrivant. Vous serez tenus informés tôt ou tard…

L’équipe a déjà réalisé quelques vidéos ô combien intéressantes qui traitent de questions sur l’aéronautique au sens très large sur leur chaîne Youtube dans une rubrique intitulée « Avianoob ». Elle vaut le détour et peut représenter une aide pédagogique pour les candidats au BIA(Brevet d’Initiation Aéronautique) voire au CAEA (Certificat d’Aptitude à l’Enseignement Aéronautique).

Dernier point et pas le moindre, Sylvain et Thomas ont pris la décision de reverser une partie de leurs bénéfices des ventes de DVD et c’est tout à leur honneur, en faveur de l’association « Rêves de gosse« .

Source des images:

Bande annonce:

BASTILLE DAY

Posté le 14 juillet 2011 de Toni G.

This wonderful picture to celebrate the French national day. The picture was shot by Xavier Cotton, the Passion pour l’aviation‘s webmaster.

FEMMES PILOTES dans l’ARMEE DE L’AIR

Posté le 24 juin 2009 de Toni G.

A NE MANQUER SOUS AUCUN PRETEXTE:

Ce soir, mercredi 24 juin 2009

sur FRANCE 3 à 20h35

Un magnifique documentaire consacré aux portraits de 5 femmes pilotes de l’armée de l’air. Elles ont été suivies tout au long d’une année lors de différentes opérations et situations.On ne souligne jamais assez le courage de ces femmes qui ont décidé à un moment de leur vie de partir à la fois à la conquête de l’air et à la défense de leur pays. Il n’existe dans ce blog qu’un tag consacré aux femmes et seuls quelques articles les mettaient en valeur. Dans la future version de Prepa PLS Anglais, une section entière de la branche « Topics » sera consacrée aux femmes qui ont marqué l’histoire de l’aviation et toutes celles qui oeuvrent dans l’aéronautique ou/et les armées. Pour tout ce qu’elles ont déjà accompli, on ne peut que dire « Chapeau bas, mesdames! »
Ne manquez pas à 20h35 sur la 3 le reportage de ce soir. Certainement TRES INTERESSANT !

PARIS AIR SHOW 2009 – Wonderful !

Posté le 22 juin 2009 de Toni G.

Thanks to Nicolas (www.frogetech-blog.com webmaster) who invited me, I went to the Paris Air Show on Saturday June 20th 2009.

I had already attended many meetings, aircraft and blimp presentations, air shows, and exhibitions but it was the first time I had visited the famous Paris Air Show. It was not scheduled, and on the one hand, a little time before the opening, I hesitated a bit for it was a pretty long trip. On the other hand, I thought it was a very good idea to join a few members of the Aero Frogetech social network but it was a little late at that time, therefore there were only two of us.

I learnt only three days before that the aircraft list looked a bit poor since there weren’t any 5^th generation fighters announced since the F-22 Raptor presentation – a highlight – was cancelled. As a matter of fact, I was a bit disappointed, actually. At least, frogE-TECH and Prepa PLS Anglais could meet there, which was a highlight indeed!

We entered the Salon du Bourget just after enjoying meeting with each other for the first time. I realised that I shouldn’t be listless by the aircraft list for I discovered – though it wasn’t expected – a 7^th-wing Jaguar on the spot as soon as we were about to walk into the halls. Then, everything turned out to be wonderful, and as interesting as ever.

I have been quite impressed by Nicolas’s experience about structures, engines, struts, shock absorbers, Souriau connectors and wirings as well as blisk (or IBR -Integrally Blade Rotor) moulding, and especially about investment castings. The LEISTRITZ GROUP exhibitors kindly explained us the way the fans and blades were cast and made. They told us that the term « blisk » obviously came

from « blade » and « disk ». We learnt interesting information from various exhibitors however flocks of crowd sometimes jammed the paths to the stands, and we got a bit reluctant to remain in front of the brand new engines exhibited at times.

We attended amazing aerobatics carried out by an Italian C-27, a

medium/small-sized cargo aircraft that well showed how maneuverable it was, really. We then enjoyed the new US DoD fighters’ aerobatics. The F-18 performed magic tricks at low speed and the F-16 turned out to be swifter than usual but it might just be the impression we had.

It might sound jingoistic but the Rafale came up as a climax in this air show as it seemed to be overwhelming any other performance though the crowd followed with more excitement and attention the Patrouille de France, and finally we discovered that the almost-brand-new-plenty-of-clout

Airbus A380 took off along a quite steep path. One might wonder how a so heavy cargo manages to lift this way. Its low speed passages let everybody dumbfounded, and it undoubtedly deserves its airworthiness certification considering the tight turns it performed. Watching this huge cargo – a freak far bigger than a whale – flying so slow, then so swift was unbelievable.

We appreciated visiting many stands and taking snapshots of the new Piaggio, a Dakota, rockets, and the F-35 LIGHTNING II !!! Then, we were told that it only was a full-scale model. We couldn’t approach the French Air Force stand for cameramen and people gathered on the spot as the head of the French Air Force, general Abrial was about to welcome the French president.

Everywhere we noticed that « low-consumption and environment-respectful » came as a motto. Nowadays, many aircraft are designed with winglets even on the tail units. 3D-woven fan structures save weight, and enhancements allow airlines to save long-term money as well even if some investments seem quite considerable. Reducing noise looked like an obsession as we could see many jagged exhaust nozzles. Upon assessing the streamlining we guessed that most aircraft are not dedicated to supersonic use anymore as if lowering kerosene consumption was crucial… and that is!

At the end of the show, it was easy to buy the rest of the magazines or souvenirs as they were sold cheaper. We couldn’t regret our coming and the light showers didn’t bother us at all because we were fascinated by the show all the time. Far and large, this Paris Air Show will remain in our memories as a must where we could discover and learn as much as we liked.

By the way, I do think that this show, dedicated to its 100^th anniversary was made on this purpose: aeronautics passion, and I dare say « as usual ».

I think I will write an article later about an amazing engine we found there and a French ambitious team willing to use it in order to win the Reno race in 2010.

Dear readers, I wish you a very good night, thank you very much Nicolas for your invitation, thank you very much indeed.

Photo credits: 1st one (top left corner): SIRPA AIR/Service photo BA 701, other photos: Recce 233 Savoie