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French engineer and aircraft manufacturer.
René Leduc was illustrated by numerous patents, some of which have transform the aeraunotic manufacturing technics. He patented fourty patents, which the full list is mentioned in the book of Jean Lacroze and Philippe Ricco, René Leduc « Pionnier de la propulsion à réaction ». René Leduc had designed himself a wide range of equipments and accessories particularly innovatives, because the french industry did not succeed reaching its goals. Some technics have transformed the aeronautic manufacturing and were used on many other aircrafts. Some of them: gas turbine, used to power the aircraft controls. Hydraulic servos, the first in the world, tripod docking system with level measure , for hanging on an aircraft carrier and drop in flight, pressurized cabin ejection as a solution for the crews rescues on speedy aircraft and on altitude, fuel flow pump, forward visibility prism, front nozzle porous diffuser to absorb the limit layer. Mass milled wings. Iso-wealth distribution. Entered in 1923, he developed from 1930 to 1937, a theory about thermo-propulsion plane, which he reinvents, without knowing it, the principle discovered by René Lorin in 1907. In 1939, the first prototype is ready, but the World War II delayed the first flight until October 1947. In total, six successive prototypes will fly, but the activity of the Leduc company will be suspended in 1958 for financial reasons, despite supersonic speeds reached by its devices. In 2003, René Leduc is described as "one of the first 100 people in the history of aerospace." This recognition is given to the centennial of the Wright brothers' first flight by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the International Council of the Aeronautical Sciences (organization of 32 aerospace companies in the world) and the special Aviation Week magazine, on the basis of a worldwide votes. René Leduc is part of the first three figures in the category "Engineers".
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variant spelling:
LEDUC, René
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History
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* 24.04.1898
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Saint-Germain-lès-Corbeil
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born
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1912
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Corbeil
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Apprentice mechanic: repair bicycles in the garage of brothers Presles.
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1913
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Essonnes
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Apprentice at the Foundries Chantemerle workshops.
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1916
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Paris
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Enlistment in the artillery to participate in the frontline fighting (Somme, Flandres, Belgium). Platoon officer at Fontainebleau : as major.
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1920
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Ile de France
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Engineering degree from the « Ecole Supérieure d'Electricité » renamed Supélec in 1987.
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1922
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Autriche
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Deputy Director of a cellulose factory in Wörgl, Austria.
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04.02.1930
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Patent # 705 648 - Precursor of propulsion mode: pulse jet : intermittent reactions propulsion.
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1931
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Vésinet
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He joined the Société Générale Aéronautique.
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07.06.1933
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Patent # 770 326 - Precursor of propulsion mode : Ramjet: Process of transforming thermal energy into kinetic or potential energy (he called it "nozzle thermopropulsive"and applied it to its aircrafts. Its nowadays name is "ramjet".
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1934
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France
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Consultant for Louis Breguet.
Examines the wing of the seaplane Breguet 730 and continues to work on the nozzles: tests are performed on a 30 mm nozzle diameter.
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1936
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Publication: The magazine Science et la vie published an article outlining the ideas of René Leduc on the possibilities of the nozzle thermopropulsive.
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1937
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Toulouse
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Design of an aircraft prototype.
Construction Beginning of the Leduc 010-01. It will be interrupted by the war: it took nine years to see it leaving the factory and twelve to perform the world premiere of a ramjet airplane flight.
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1944 - 1957
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Toulouse
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Leduc Aircraft development.
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1946
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Receive the Henri Parville award for its works based on the subject of its thesis.
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1947
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Creation of the SARL René Leduc &son, based in Argenteuil, 158 quai de Bezons, on the shore of the Seine river.
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17.12.1948
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Receive the the Knight's Cross of the Legion of Honor.
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1949 - 1956
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France
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The state finances the construction of prototypes increasingly powerful, program to get a supersonic interceptor at the horizon of 1960.
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21.04.1949
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Toulouse
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The Leduc 010 prototype, piloted by Jean Gonord, made the first powered flight in the skies of Toulouse. It is the world's first flight of an airplane with a stato-propulsion.
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09.10.1951
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Patent n° US2711158 : Control apparatus and locking means therefor.
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1954
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Conference at the Aero Club of France. He made a prediction, "In twenty years, passengers will cross the Atlantic at Mach 2! , "Which it will be realized with the Concorde in 1973.
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14.07.1954
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Patent n° US 2762587 : Aircraft cabin.
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18.06.1955
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Paris
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Bourget exhibition of two Leduc 021 (01 and 02) mounted on the Languedoc. Flight demonstration of one of them, piloted by Jean Sarrail, this is the highlight of the show.
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† 09.03.1968
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died
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