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Re: Identity Needed Italian Float Plane?
Well Clint
As per Gregory Alegi Italy bought three of these Curtiss-Paulhan Triads (he consistently call them Triad). They also bought three landplanes (of the same model) which were modified/converted by Paulhan into hydros.
Six more hydros were aquired from a dealer named Enea Bossi, origin not named.
After that I cannot see he mentions any more.
Paulhan is an interesting individual as such. I skimmed the article by Hartmann which is quite "wordy", but doesn't really provide much more info than already known.
Paulhan's so called factory is also a bit shady don't you think? Had he a factory of his own or did he ensure someone else actually built the aircraft under his name? Did he in fact have a factory at all or did he import aircraft parts from Curtiss and assembled them upon arrival? When WW 1 broke out, off he went to the Balkans and became a regular pilot. What happened to his factory? It is much easier to have a small assembly business going on than to have a full size factory building aircraft. But perhaps he ran a loosing business, so he was quite happy to close it down? Many questions with no real answers....
Checking Wikipedia (which is wrong in some places) don't make me any wiser. My French sources are also rather silent about his doings post 1918/19. He certainly does not start up any aircraft production by himself. He rather seems to have been employed by others.
Finally my French friends has told me to take Hartmann's writings with a pinch of salt..... I like however much of what he has written....
Cheers
Stig
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