page_title: Voisin
section_title: Voisin designs in World War I
hierarchical_section_title: Voisin / Voisin designs in World War I
context_page_description: Aéroplanes Voisin was a French aircraft manufacturing company established in 1905 by Gabriel Voisin and his brother Charles, and was continued by Gabriel after Charles died in an automobile accident in 1912; the full official company name then became Société Anonyme des Aéroplanes G. Voisin.
  During World War I, it was a major producer of military aircraft, notably the Voisin III. After the war Gabriel Voisin abandoned the aviation industry, and set up a company to design and produce luxury automobiles, called Avions Voisin.
context_section_description: Production of the Voisin III Type LA and LAS increased with the outbreak of the First World War, with examples being built under licence in Italy by S.I.T., in Russia by Anatra, Breshnev-Moller, Dux Lebedev and Schetinin, and in the UK by Savages of King's Lynn, with production exceeding 1,350 airframes. Examples would also be used by the Belgian and Romanian Air Services, and a few even survived the war to be used in the Ukraine, and in Russia. Soon after the outbreak of the First World War, it became apparent that the French aviation industry could not produce aircraft in sufficient numbers to meet military requirements. Manufacturers from various other fields became aviation subcontractors, and later license-builders as did many smaller aircraft manufacturers who had been unable to secure orders for their own designs. By 1918, Voisin was involved with the Voisin-Lafresnaye company, a major constructor of airframes, and the Voisin-Lefebvre company, a major builder of aircraft engines.
  The Voisin III was followed by a small number of the 37mm cannon armed Voisin IV Type LB and Type LBS, and were the only wartime designs with staggered wings. The B in the factory designations indicate that the airframe was equipped with a cannon, although some had it removed in service. The S indicates that the engine was raised (surélevé) compared to the original installation. 
  Three hundred of the improved Voisin V Type LAS aircraft followed. 
  The Voisin VI Type LAS was a development of the V fitted with a 155 hp (116 kW) Salmson radial, of which only around 50 were built despite the improved performance as the basic type was considered to be obsolete.
  The larger Type LC, Voisin VII, followed in 1916 with the engine cooling radiators moved to the nose, but was not a success as it was badly underpowered and only a hundred of these were built. 
  Voisin built a large Triplane powered by four 150 hp (110 kW) Salmson water-cooled aero-engines in 1915 with twin superimposed fuselage booms, however it attracted no orders, but its wings were reused in 1916 for the E.28 triplane bomber which was now powered by four 220 hp (160 kW) V8 Hispano-Suiza 8B engines, which likewise failed to secure any orders.
  Also in 1915, Voisin built the Type M in which the fuselage was below the lower wing, and the engine filled the gap between the wings, however neither it, nor the otherwise similar twin fuselage Type O were successful.
  Following the Voisin VII came the more powerful, and more successful Voisin VIII Type LAP and Type LBP. This was the French army's main night bomber in 1916 and 1917, with over one thousand built.
  The Voisin IX, or Type LC (the designation was reused), was an unsuccessful lightened development of the VIII for a reconnaissance aeroplane, which lost out to the Salmson 2 and Breguet 14.
  The Voisin X, Type LAR and Type LBR, was the Voisin VIII with a more reliable, lighter and more powerful 280 hp (210 kW) Renault 12Fe engine in place of the 220 hp (160 kW) Peugeot 8Aa used on the VIII. Deliveries were severely delayed, but some nine hundred were built before the end of the war. In 1918, a Voisin X (No. 3500) was used to create the Voisin 'Aerochir' ('Ambulance').  The aircraft was capable of flying a surgeon, together with an operating table and support equipment, including an x-ray machine and autoclave, into the battlefield. Under-wing panniers could be carry 800 lb (360 kg) of equipment. Another X was converted into a drone, and flown in 1918 and again in 1923.
  The Voisin XI was a development of the X powered by a 350 hp (260 kW) Panhard 12Bc, with a slightly longer wingspan and assorted detail changes. Only about 10 were built and it did not see service.
  The final Voisin design, the Voisin XII, was successful in trials in 1918 for the BN2 bomber competition, but with the end of the war, no production was ordered. The Voisin XII was a large, four-engined biplane night bomber. Several projects for heavy bombers for the next bomber specification (BN3/4) may have been based on the XII, but fitted with larger Salmson or Hispano-Suiza en
caption: Cannon armed Voisin IV
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