Villiers 31

Ateliers Villier's Type 31 was their last aircraft before they collapsed in 1931.[1] A single engine monoplane of mixed construction, it was also their only passenger aircraft.

It was a high wing aircraft; the wing had constant chord out to rounded tips and had a wooden structure with plywood skinning. The Villiers XXIV had been the first French aircraft maker to use Handley Page slats and the Villiers 26 reconnaissance seaplane used a combination of automatically opening slats on the leading edge in front of the ailerons and another set which the pilot opened as he lowered the flaps. The Type 31 had a similar combination of automatic and commanded slats.[2]

The Villiers 31 had a flat sided fuselage of rectangular cross-section behind the wing, built around a frame of chrome steel tubes and fabric covered.[2] It was the first aircraft to have an autogenically welded structure, that is welded without the use of a filler metal.[3] There was a 310 kW (420 hp) Gnome et Rhône 9Ab nine-cylinder radial engine in the nose, which some photographs show under a long-chord, close-fitting, circular cowling. Others show it uncowled. The two crew sat in a cockpit at the wing leading edge, the wing itself raised a little above the general fuselage line on a low fairing over the cabin, which seated eight and was lit by long strips of transparencies on each side. Access was via a rear starboard side door.[2]

Like the rest of the fuselage the empennage was steel framed and fabric covered. The tailplanes were mounted just below the top of the fuselage, each braced from below with a single strut and carrying a balanced elevator. A curved, deep, balanced rudder, mounted on a small fin and slightly pointed on top, worked in elevator cut-outs. The airliner had a fixed tailwheel undercarriage. The two mainwheels were mounted independently on V-struts from the lower fuselage with near-vertical oleo struts to the wing roots. The mainwheels had brakes and the tailwheel was steerable.[2]

The exact date of the first flight of the Villiers 31 is not known, though all reports on it are from 1930.[2][3][4] On 13 March 1930 the Air Ministry concluded a contract for two Type 31s;[4] one of them (F-AKCR) was certainly built.[3]

Data from L'année aéronautique 1930-31. p.61[2]

General characteristics

• Crew: two
• Capacity: eight
• Length: 14.10 m (46 ft 3 in)
• Wingspan: 19.20 m (63 ft 0 in)
• Height: 4.08 m (13 ft 5 in)
• Wing area: 56 m² (600 sq ft)
• Empty weight: 1,950 kg (4,299 lb)
• Gross weight: 3,540 kg (7,804 lb)
• Fuel capacity: 400 kg (880 lb) fuel and oil
• Powerplant: 1 × Gnome et Rhône 9Ab 9-cylinder radial, 310 kW (420 hp) [4]

Performance

• Maximum speed: 180 km/h (110 mph, 97 kn) at sea level
• Cruise speed: 160 km/h (99 mph, 86 kn)
• Service ceiling: 3,500 m (11,500 ft)
• Time to altitude: 1 hr to ceiling