page_title: Émile Taddéoli
section_title: Seaplanes and later years
hierarchical_section_title: Émile Taddéoli / Seaplanes and later years
caption_attribution_description: Emile Taddéoli &amp; Edouard Perrot &amp; Cie&#160;: "La Mouette" seaplane on Lake Geneva in March 1912
context_page_description: Pierre Émile Taddéoli was a Swiss aviation pioneer. He was active as a pilot, instructor, test pilot, and also the probably most prominent pioneer using seaplanes in Switzerland. Taddéoli received the pilot's brevet number 2 issued in Switzerland on October 10, 1910.
context_section_description: In June 1911, in co-operation with Edouard Perrot (Edouard Perrot & Cie), Taddéoli started to design the seaplane "La Mouette", making preparatory experiments using a Dufaux 4 biplane equipped with floats. On 24/25 June 1911, during a flight meeting in Annecy, he crashed his Dufaux 5 on Lake Geneva. On 26 March 1912 a first takeoff attempt was not successful, and "La Mouette" was destroyed. While taking off to fly from Bern to Biel/Bienne on 3 June 1913, Taddéoli lost a wheel, but the good fortune was again with him. Oskar Bider witnessed the incident and took off with the wheel to catch Taddéoli up, to warn him of the danger: Taddéoli landed without problems in Bienne. During the following years, Taddéoli took part in 45 flight meetings within 53 months, and achieved more rewards and records. An application to join the military aviation troops was rejected because he was married.
  For a while he earned his living flying passengers, later Taddéoli left Switzerland for Sesto Calende in Italy on the southern tip of Lago Maggiore where he was hired as test pilot for Savoia in mid-1914. This manufacturer of hydroplanes was the leader in Europe, and the SIAI S.13 seaplane was a bestselling aircraft. During these five years of activity, Taddéoli made more than 2,700 flight tests, flying about 150,000 kilometres (93,000 mi).
  In January 1919, Emile Taddéoli was pioneering again in crossing the Apennine Mountains in a seaplane between Sesto Calende and San Remo. On 12 July 1919, with a passenger on board, he flew from Calende on Lago Maggiore to Lake Geneva in 110 minutes, overflying the Mont Blanc (4,695 metres (15,404 ft)) massif in his Savoia S-13.
  In July 1919 he became director and chief pilot for Avion Tourisme SA; on 12 October 1919, Taddéoli started as chief pilot on seaplanes for the later Ad Astra Aero S.A. On 7 April 1920, he was pioneering again in crossing the Alps from Lugano to Geneva in 85 minutes with a passenger (Eric Debétaz) on board.
caption: La Mouette seaplane on Lake Geneva in March 1912
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