Aviation / Aerospace

Ponnier L.1

Scout Biplane Fighter Prototype [ 1914 ]

The Ponnier L.1 Scout Biplane of France failed to net any viable military interest, leading to no production units forthcoming.

Authored By: Staff Writer | Last Edited: 08/07/2018 | Content ©www.MilitaryFactory.com | The following text is exclusive to this site.

GO TO SPECIFICATIONS [+]

Advertisements

World War 1 (1914-1918) proved the perfect avenue for which aviation concerns could showcase their wares - and hopefully secure potentially lucrative wartime contracts. The Ponnier L.1 of French origin was one product introduced during the period, arriving just prior to the start of hostilities in July of 1914 (the war began before the end of that month). The type was evolved along the lines of a biplane "scout" but, before the end, it did little to interest French authorities in its purchase - as such no production contract followed. Design of the L.1 was attributed to Alfred Pagny and manufacture stemmed from Avions Ponnier. A first flight occurred in July of 1914.

The L.1 design held roots in the earlier Ponnier D.III monoplane of 1913 which was born as a racing aircraft - fitted with a then-powerful Gnome engine of 160 horsepower. Only one was completed by Ponnier, its design again coming from the mind of Alfred Pagny. Spurred by the British Schneider Trophy win of 1913 - they using a biplane racer to claim the gold - thought fell to converting the racing-minded D.III from its original monoplane form to that of a biplane for possible military service.

The L.1 carried over the fuselage of the D.III with a single-bay biplane wing arrangement added (parallel interplane struts being used). The undercarriage was wheeled under center mass and the tail supported through a simple skid. The engine of choice became the Gnome 7-cylinder rotary engine though this unit outputted only 50 horsepower. It was installed at the nose in the usual way and drove a two-bladed wooden propeller. The pilot sat in an open-air cockpit under and aft of the upper wing mainplane which had a section above the pilot cutout for improved upward vision. The tail unit consisted of a sole vertical fin coupled with a pair of low-set horizontal planes held close to the fuselage. The fuselage itself was given slab-sides which was a typical design feature of aircraft of the period.

Despite the work done, the L.1 failed to net any military interest. It was underpowered by its 50 horsepower engine and there appeared better competing types for purchase by the French air service. The L.1 therefore fell into French aviation history as nothing more than a footnote but the work completed on the design proved helpful in the development of another Ponnier product to come - the M.1 fighter which appeared in November of 1916 and netted twenty production examples.©MilitaryFactory.com

Note: The above text is EXCLUSIVE to the site www.MilitaryFactory.com. It is the product of many hours of research and work made possible with the help of contributors, veterans, insiders, and topic specialists. If you happen upon this text anywhere else on the internet or in print, please let us know at MilitaryFactory AT gmail DOT com so that we may take appropriate action against the offender / offending site and continue to protect this original work.

Specifications

Service Year

1914

Origin

France

Status

CANCELLED
Development Ended.

Crew

1

Production

1
UNITS

Avions Ponnier - France

(View other Aviaton-Related Manufacturers)

France (abandoned)

(OPERATORS list includes past, present, and future operators when applicable)

✓ Intelligence-Surveillance-Reconnaissance (ISR), Scout
Surveil ground targets / target areas to assess environmental threat levels, enemy strength, or enemy movement.

✓ X-Plane (Developmental, Prototype, Technology Demonstrator)
Aircraft developed for the role of prototyping, technology demonstration, or research / data collection.

Length

17.4 ft
(5.30 m)

Width/Span

26.2 ft
(8.00 m)

Empty Wgt

573 lb
(260 kg)

(Showcased structural values pertain to the base Ponnier L.1 production variant)

Installed: 1 x Gnome 7-cylinder rotary engine developing 50 horsepower while driving two-bladed propeller in nose.

Max Speed

65 mph
(105 kph | 57 kts)

Rate-of-Climb

381 ft/min
(116 m/min)

♦ MACH Regime (Sonic)

Sub

Trans

Super

Hyper

HiHyper

ReEntry

♦

(Showcased performance specifications pertain to the base Ponnier L.1 production variant. Performance specifications showcased above are subject to environmental factors as well as aircraft configuration. Estimates are made when Real Data not available. Compare this aircraft entry against any other in our database or View aircraft by powerplant type)

None.

Supported Types

(Not all ordnance types may be represented in the showcase above)

L.1 - Base Series Designation

Military lapel ribbon for Operation Allied Force

Military lapel ribbon for the Arab-Israeli War

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Britain

Military lapel ribbon for the Battle of Midway

Military lapel ribbon for the Berlin Airlift

Military lapel ribbon for the Cuban Missile Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for pioneering aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the Falklands War

Military lapel ribbon for the French-Indochina War

Military lapel ribbon for the Golden Age of Flight

Military lapel ribbon for the 1991 Gulf War

Military lapel ribbon for the Indo-Pak Wars

Military lapel ribbon for the Iran-Iraq War

Military lapel ribbon for the Korean War

Military lapel ribbon for the 1982 Lebanon War

Military lapel ribbon for the Malayan Emergency

Military lapel ribbon representing modern aircraft

Military lapel ribbon for the attack on Pearl Harbor

Military lapel ribbon for the Six Day War

Military lapel ribbon for the Soviet-Afghan War

Military lapel ribbon for the Spanish Civil War

Military lapel ribbon for the Suez Crisis

Military lapel ribbon for the Ukranian-Russian War

Military lapel ribbon for the Vietnam War

Military lapel ribbon for Warsaw Pact of the Cold War-era

Military lapel ribbon for the WASP (WW2)

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 1

Military lapel ribbon for the World War 2

Military lapel ribbon for the Yom Kippur War

Military lapel ribbon for experimental x-plane aircraft

Ribbon graphics not necessarily indicative of actual historical campaign ribbons. Ribbons are clickable to their respective aerial campaigns / operations / aviation periods.

Images Gallery

1 / 1

Image from the Public Domain.