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Very good links, thank you; the 3d model is excellent and it would be great to see this converted into a card model kit. The other link with contributions from correspondents who knew, or saw, or actually flew in the plane is another fascinating piece of history.
The realities of the "golden age" of flying are always so different to what we imagine; the journey starting at 2 p.m. in Paris, the arrival at Biscarosse at 10 p.m., the flight at 7 a.m. the following day after a night at the hotel on site, the interminable flight in an aircraft which leaked water from the windows in a rainstorm, and whose toilets had a backdraft which sprayed the user. The on board bar was apparently so noisy from the engines that 15 minutes was about the longest that passengers would want to stay in it.
The failure of the type, apart from the incident of the propeller blades flying off and slicing into the fuselage, killing two passengers, seems to have been caused by the engine vibration frequency matching that of the airframe (think I have that right but see the on-line book I refer to earlier); this caused early fatigue and failures in ailerons and wings which I take to be similar to that of the Tacoma Narrows bridge which literally shook itself to bits.
When you look at it , though, it's such a slim and graceful design that structural failure, particularly of the wings, does seem to be a distinct possibility.
Update on drawings is that I now have pdf extracts from the on-line book which appear usable with some effort so I'll make a start on that presently.
Best wishes
Chris
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