Charles Terres Weymann

Charles Terres Weymann

Charles Weymann with his Gordon Bennett-winning Nieuport monoplane
Born (1889-08-02)2 August 1889
Port-au-Prince, Haiti
Died August 1976 (aged 86–87)
France
Occupation early aviator, inventor and successful businessman

Charles Terres Weymann (2 August 1889 – 1976) was an early aeroplane racing pilot and businessman. During World War I he flew for Nieuport as a test pilot and was awarded the rank of Chevalier of the Legion of Honour.

Early years

Weymann was born in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on 2 August 1889 of an American father and Haitian mother.[nb 1] It has been suggested that his mother and US-born father were on a liner in Haitian waters at the time of his birth. He spoke fluent English and French and seems to have had dual US & French nationality but resided permanently in France. He died in France in 1976.

Inventor

Fabric bodies

After the war Charles Weymann used his knowledge of airframe manufacture to develop a system of making fabric bodies for road vehicles. He opened factories in Paris in 1921, London in 1923 and Indianapolis in 1928. The market for these grew enormously and Weymann licensed his system to many of Europe's most prestigious marques.

A change of fashion in the late 1920s led to a demand for gloss painted bodies and the fabric market disappeared. A system was developed using metal panels with a similar flexible mounting allowing movement between panels. It was used on coachbuilt bodies but it did not suit the demands of mass-production.

The French factory closed in 1930 followed by Indianapolis in 1931. The British plant had turned to the manufacture of bus bodies and survived (as Metro Cammell Weymann) but Weymann resigned from the company in 1932.

Automatic clutch

He maintained his interest in developing equipment for the automotive industry. In 1963 he obtained a patent for an automatic clutch but it did not meet with commercial success.

Weymann returned to aviation with the engineer Georges Lepère and continued to design aircraft, such as the Weymann 66 and autogyros at Société des Avions C T Weymann.

Aviation achievements

Motor racing

Stutz 4.9 Litre Blackhawk

Weymann brought a Stutz DV16 Blackhawk team to Le Mans 1928 and they finished second in the race – to a Bentley.

Notes

  1. ↑ It is said that Charles Weymann's mother was Cornelie Miot, herself Haitian and daughter of Charles Miot and Lesinska Cecile Rivière, both Haitians. Lesinska Cecile Rivière (1829–1908), Charles's maternal grandmother, was the sister of Bienaimé "Mémé" Rivière, the richest person in Haiti at the time, who owned shipping lines among other things. It is suspected that Charles's aviation ventures were financed with Rivière money. Charles Miot and Lesinska Rivière, Charles' grandparents, established themselves in Paris where they both died.

References

  1. ↑ "Weymann's Splendid Cross-country Passenger Flight", Flight, 17 September 1910: 748–749
  2. ↑ "Flight Pioneers", Flight, 8 July 1911: 583, retrieved 28 October 2010
  3. ↑ "Gordon-Bennett Competition: Table of Cumulative Lap Times", Flight, 8 July 1911, p. 589, retrieved 29 October 2010

External links

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