Talk:Alfred V. Verville/Archive 1

Material to evalutate
"Alfred Verville was one of the brightest designers of early airplanes in this country. In 1914, at the age of twenty-four, Verville was so impressed by a daredevil flying demonstration that he left his secure job as a designer at Hudson Motor Company and plunged headlong into aviation. Joining the Curtiss company, Verville provided valuable design work on many early Curtiss planes ... most notably the famous Jenny. By 1918, Alfred Verville's fame as a brilliant aeronautics designer had grown ... and he was asked by the United States Army Air Corps to help redesign some of America's wartime airplanes. The result was the Verville VCP racer, a powerful biplane which obtained an estimated speed of 190 miles-per-hour. The Army was interested in the VCP as a prototype for a pursuit plane, but Army General Billy Mitchell ... champion of air power ... wanted even more speed and instructed Verville to design "tomorrow's airplane today." In one frantic night, Verville designed the R-3 racer, a sleek and fast airplane ... and the first American plane to feature such innovations as retractable landing gear. General Mitchell was so pleased with the R-3 that he whistled, "Now that's what I call a modern aeroplane!" The unique and innovative design of Verville's R-3 later led to some of the most famous fighter planes of World War II"

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"Lawrence and Elmer Sperry were responsible for development of the autopilot and the directional gyroscope in the late 1920s. They were honored in 1985. Alfred V. Verville's contribution to aviation was a plane called the Packard?Verville with a 638?hp engine, billed as the "wonder plane of the Army." This low?wing monoplane was, in its day, a leap in technology. In the first Pulitzer Trophy Race in 1920, it averaged 156.5 mph over the 116-mile closed course. It gave energy to General Billy Mitchell's campaign for faster pursuit planes for the U.S. Army. Verville was honored with a stamp on Feb. 13, 1985."

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Obituary
"Died. Alfred V. Verville, 79, pioneer aircraft designer who in 1914 with Glenn Curtiss designed the famed Curtiss Jenny, and later as a U.S. Army Air Service engineer developed the nation's first welded-fuselage fighter plane with droppable fuel tanks, the PW-1 Pursuit; of a heart attack; in La Jolla, Calif."

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See also: http://www.archive.org/stream/annualreportofbo1963smit/annualreportofbo1963smit_djvu.txt

For research purposes:
Smithsonian links to Verville's planes:
 * Verville Aircraft Company
 * General Airplane Co
 * Alfred V. Verville (firm)
 * Sperry
 * Verville-Sperry
 * Buhl/Buhl-Verville

Other:
 * VCP Series

Jonverve (talk) 03:12, 1 May 2009 (UTC)

General Aircraft Company
Verville's first company: from: http://aerofiles.com/_ga.html

General 2/10/1915: General Aeroplane Co, 1507 Jefferson Ave, E Detroit MI. 8/28/1918: Ended operations.

General Flying boat (G P Maiorana coll) General Striking underside view (G P Maiorana coll)

1916 = 2pOBFb very much in the style of a Curtiss F; 100hp Curtiss OX-5 or Maximotor pusher; span: 38'0" length: 27'8" load: 600#; ff: 11/x/16. Alfred Verville. Mahogany hull and wing floats constructed by Mayea Boat Co (Detroit), three-bladed prop, engine mounted under top wing. Sub-headline in an ad for flight training really went after the wimps: "Instruction in a General Aeroplane's Verville type flying boat will convert the ardent speed motor boat enthusiast to the virile man-making sport of flying." Instead, the Navy purchased the plane for use as a trainer. Two more similar military pushers and two twin-engine seaplanes were ordered in Mar 1917, but there is no record of any more aircraft being built by GAC.

General on floats (ad: 1917 Flying) General on wheels (G P Maiorana coll)

1916 = 2pOBF pusher; no data. Alfred Verville. Twin floats were replaced with wheels for winter operations off the ice of Lake St Clair. In its first flight with wheels in Jan 1917, the pilot overshot the landing area and ended up in open water, destroying the plane.

The floatplane was model "Gamma S," and it was this second plane that crashed after it had been mounted on wheels and rechristened the model "Gamma L." Verville apparently also designed a tractor version of the seaplane. (— Norman Fill 8/9/01)

Verville Plane Registrations
http://www.goldenyears.ukf.net/reg_N37.htm

NC476Y	Verville AT	14	NC476Y NC477Y	Verville 104C Air Coach	7	NC477Y NC478Y	Verville AT-4 Sportsman	13	NC478Y NC479Y	Verville YPT-10	15	NC479Y

missing any info from this article
Alfred Victor Verville was born on No- vember 16, 1890 in Atlantic Mine, Michigan. His career as an aircraft designer and builder spanned nearly fifty years, during which his genius and vision enabled him to influence the advancement of aviation during its formative years. Verville joined the Curtiss Airplane Company in 1914, and aided in the design of many Curtiss planes, including the first “Jenny” training plane, and the Curtiss F Flying Boat. In 1915, he organized the General Airplane Company of Detroit, producing the Verville Flying Boat and the Verville Twin Float Pusher. After World War I broke out, Verville joined the U.S. Army Service. After touring Europe with General Billy Mitchell to assess the development of aviation there, Verville was asked by General Mitchell to design an airplane for the Air Service entry in the 1922 National Air Races. Verville designed the Verville-Sperry Racer. This plane was one of the first airplanes with retractable landing gear. The true importance of the Racer design was recognized in 1961, when it was selected as one of the twelve most significant aircraft of all time. In 1925 he organized the Buhl-Aircraft Company, producing the Buhl-Verville Airster. In 1927 he organized the Verville Aircraft Company, producing the Verville Coach, AT Trainer, and YPT-10. He served as engineer and consultant with several aircraft companies including Douglas, Curtiss-Wright, Snead, and Drexel Aviation. Verville contributed 16 year of service to the Federal government, primarily with the Bureau of Aeronautics, before retiring in 1961.

http://74.125.45.132/search?q=cache:7yNnxk4IRHkJ:www.michigan.gov/documents/Aviation_vol36_no4_157590_7.pdf+general+aeroplane+company+detroit&cd=37&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&client=firefox-a

or

http://www.michigan.gov/documents/Aviation_vol36_no4_157590_7.pdf

- Already included in article. Nasa-verve (talk) 18:32, 20 May 2014 (UTC)