Hi all,
As I'm close to finishing the Hansa-Brandenburg W.20 float plane, I thought I'd start on a 'Planet Models' resin kit.
This model represents a Ponnier M.1 ‘Le Vampire’ of the Aviation Militaire Belge, as flown by Abel De Neef from the Ten Bogaerde (Koksijde) airfield in 1915.
Before WW1, Louis Alfréd Ponnier was a Director of one of the companies of René Hanriot.
In 1913 Hanriot decide to temporarily quit his interest in aviation and Ponnier took over the factory under his ’Avions Ponnier’ trade mark.
The Avions Ponnier company attempted to win a pre-WW1 contract from the French military with their 1913 Ponnier L.1 scout, designed by Alfred Pagny, but they were unsuccessful.
In 1915 Pierre Dupont was hired as an aircraft designer and in 1916 the Ponnier M.1 was tested by French ‘Aviation Militaire’ pilots, including Jean Navarre and Charles Nungesser.
During flight testing, Charles Nungesser was severely injured when the aircraft entered a flat spin.
In the ensuing crash, Nungesser had both legs broken as well as his jaw.
The crash was thought to have been caused by an incorrect centre of gravity combined with a rudder which was too small.
The French lost all interest in the aircraft after this incident.
However, the Belgian Air Force were desperate for fighter aircraft and so ordered the type.
At least twenty Ponnier M.1s were produced by S.A. Française de Constructions Aéronautiques, Ponnier's successor company to Avions Ponnier.
Most of these, probably more than eighteen, were bought by the Aviation Militaire Belge.
However, the Belgian ace Willy Coppens found the aircraft to be ineffective, despite modifications, which included a larger empennage and removal of the propeller spinner.
The aircraft, like those remaining with the French, were rapidly discarded.
Those that were left had their lower wings stripped and were sent to the pilot training school in Etampes, where students used them to learn how to taxi.
As an aside, René Hanriot returned to the aviation business and his designer, Emile Dupont was instrumental in bringing about the much better Hanriot HD.1 fighter.
Mike
