(Image credit: Vintage Aviation News)
When the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe race, a historic international air racing competition in France, was in its final years, French aircraft manufacturer Caudron built three aircraft to compete. For the 1934 season, the company developed the Caudron C.450 and C.460, and, based on them, the Caudron C.461 for the 1936 race. The C.450 and C.460 were developed from the Caudron C.362, which raced the previous year. Only one C.450 and three C.460s were built, all powered by a supercharged Renault 456 six-cylinder inverted air-cooled engine and equipped with a Ratier two-position variable-pitch propeller. The structure of the planes was mainly made from spruce and birch plywood. They also had steel and alloy parts that supported the engine, along with magnesium for the cowling and fuel tanks. The wings included split flaps, and the tailplane’s angle could be adjusted during flight. The main difference between the two models was that the C.450 had a fixed spatted undercarriage, while the C.460 featured a retractable one. It meant that the C.460 required a two-spar wing for added strength, unlike the C.450, which had a single-spar wing.
Birth of Caudron C.461
In 1936, for the Coupe de la Meurthe competition, Caudron built two modified versions of the C.460, called the Caudron C.461. It was 26.10 feet long, slightly larger than C.460, with a wingspan of 22.2 feet, and an empty weight of 1,457 pounds. It was equipped with a completely redesigned cockpit and fuselage, with limited forward visibility through semi-circular windows on either side. In the 1934 Coupe de la Meurthe, Maurice Arnoux won first place flying the C.450. Albert Monville came in third with one of the C.460s. The C.460s had problems with their retractable landing gear. As a result, they were forced to fly with the landing gear extended during the competition. On May 22, 1934, Raymond Delmotte flew the C.450 and set a world record for light aircraft over 100 km (62 miles) with a speed of 431.65 km/h (268.21 mph). In August of that year, Hélène Boucher set a record airspeed for her class in the C.450, reaching 455 km/h (284 mph). On Christmas Day 1934, Delmotte achieved a new airspeed record for light aircraft over a 3 km (1.8 mile) course, reaching a speed of 505.85 km/h (314.32 mph) in a C.460. In 1935, a C.460, flown by Delmotte, won the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe. It had an average speed of 443.96 km/h (277.5 mph). In 1936, a C.460 plane, flown by Michel Detroyat, won both the Greve Trophy and the Thompson Trophy at the National Air Races in the United States.
A Lost Dream
In 1936, Yves Lacombe won the Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe while flying the C.450. At the end of the first leg, Arnoux, who was flying one of the Caudron C.461s, was in the lead. He completed the 1000 km (620 miles) with a speed of 414.818 km/h (257.756 mph), while Lacombe’s speed was 403.818 km/h (250.921 mph). Delmotte, flying another Caudron C.461, had to retire due to a lost exhaust pipe. Technical issues delayed both planes from starting the second part of the race. Since any time spent on the ground beyond an hour and a half counted as flight time, Lacombe, who faced fewer delays than Arnoux, ended up winning with an average speed of 389.462 km/h (242.000 mph). Delmotte had the fastest single lap, reaching a speed of 432.175 km/h (268.541 mph). In January 2009, a team, including Tom Wathen, Mark Lightsey, Aerocraftsman Inc., and students from Wathen Aviation High School, built a replica of the C.460 powered by a LOM engine. They displayed the aircraft at the Paris Air Show in 2009. In the Grounded Dreams series, while the Caudron C.450 and C.460 won several trophies, the Caudron C.461 couldn’t. While the development of C.450 and C.460 began earlier in 1934, both planes had enough time to be tested and mature. But the Caudron C.461 couldn’t get that time as the final Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe air race concluded in 1936. Read more Grounded Dreams articles HERE.
