Name Georges Abrial | ||
 | ||
Born 1898 Paris Alma mater St Cyr Aeronautical Institute Employer(s) Pierre Levasseur (aircraft builder) Died 1970, Vauville, Manche, France Aircraft designed Abrial A-2 Vautour, Abrial A-12 Bagoas, Abrial A-3 Oricou | ||
Engineering discipline aerodynamics | ||
Georges Abrial (1898, Paris – 1970, Vauville, Manche) was an early French aerodynamicist.
Contents
Life
After graduating from the St Cyr Aeronautical Institute he worked for Levasseur (Levasseur-Abrial A-1) and did some pioneering work into tailless aircraft. He designed several gliders during the 1920s before turning to lecturing the following decade, when he also became influential in the French soaring movement.
Abrial stopped designing new aircraft after 1932 when he abandoned his A-12 project. He was more attracted by instructorship and educational methods and played an important role in the development of soaring in France during the 1930s. After World War II, he was still active in promoting soaring in France and in French Africa.
In 1954 he came back to the design of tailless aircraft, with the A-13 "Buse" project. But this glider was never built.