View source for Alfred Renard

{{Short description|Belgian aviation pioneer (1895–1988)}}
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| name                      = Alfred Renard
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| nationality               = Belgian
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| birth_date                = {{Birth date|df=yes|1895|4|21}}
| birth_place               = [[Anderlecht]]  
| death_date                = {{death date and age|df=yes|1988|6|20|1895|04|21}}
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| education                 = [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]]
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| discipline           = aviation
| institutions         = [[Stampe et Vertongen]]
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'''Alfred Renard''' (21 April 1895 – 20 June 1988) was a Belgian aviation pioneer.

==Biography==

Alfred Renard was born in [[Anderlecht]] on 21 April 1895. As a youngster and inspired by the kites he saw his father make,<ref name="ReferenceA">André Hauet, ''Les avions Renard'', Éditions A.E.L.R., Bruxelles, 1984</ref> he installed electricity and a telephone system at an uncle's farm.

In 1912, his inspiration was kindled by a prize of 10.000 [[franc]]s, offered by French car builder [[Peugeot]] to the first cyclist to make two aircraft flights of 10 meters each, relying solely on his or her own muscular power. Alfred conceived and, with help from his brother Georges, made his own device for the test: a bicycle augmented with a propeller and a fabric-covered wing, which unfolded by means of a lever when the device reached airspeed. The machine failed, however.

During [[World War I]] the brothers worked in the family home at a pedal-powered [[lathe]], producing pieces for a Brussels workshop; they also built engines. They ventured into building a five-meter-long [[blimp]] that they fill with compressed air.

The war forced Alfred Renard to suspend his studies at the [[Free University of Brussels (1834–1969)|Free University of Brussels]] and the Department of Applied Sciences, but in 1920 he earned an engineering degree in civil construction, plus a ''license'' in aeronautics.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

After study came the tour of soldier's duty, especially important in this small country that had suffered heavily under the war, and was taking part in the occupation of Western Germany. Renard served as a cartographer, designing military aerodromes. During this service he re-acquainted one of his former university teachers, [[Emile Allard]], newly appointed chief of the military aviation technical service TSA, and creator of a Belgian Aeronautical Laboratory. After several visits to [[Gustave Eiffel]] in Paris, the two of them would build a [[wind tunnel]] at [[Sint-Genesius-Rode]]. They also designed an all-metal monoplane, built at [[Zeebrugge]] by company ZACCO (best known under the French acronym [[ACAZ]]) as the [[ACAZ T-2]]. It failed to meet commercial success.<ref name="ReferenceA"/>

Through the same Emile Allard, Renard got in touch with [[Jean Stampe]] and his cherished dream of operating his own flying school with his self-designed and self-built solid trainer aircraft. The venture was completed with [[Maurice Vertongen]], its designs marked RSV for Renard-Stampe-Vertongen. The company statute left Renard free to keep his position as chief engineer at the Defense Ministry, meanwhile designing RSV-aircraft built and sold by [[Stampe et Vertongen]]

== Renard Constructions Aéronautiques ==

In 1925, Alfred Renard created his own company as '''Société anonyme des avions et moteurs Renard''' in [[Brussels]]. The main activity was the design and production of aircraft engines of 100, 120 and 240&nbsp;hp. Some of them served Belgian military aviation, some were sold in Poland and in the USA. Also, a Renard 240&nbsp;hp engine powered the second version of Belgium's first helicopter, built by and named after Russian engineer [[Nicolas Florine]].<ref>Jean Boulet, ''Histoire de l'hélicoptère : racontée par ses pionniers, 1907-1956'', Éd. France-Empire, Paris, 1982</ref>
In 1928, his brother Georges Renard joined the company which was then renamed '''Renard Constructions Aéronautiques'''. The brothers shifted away from engine design: their [[Renard R-31|R-31]] and [[Renard R-36|R-36]] were powered by engines from abroad.

== World War II and aftermath ==

Foreseeing the German invasion in 1940, Alfred Renard planned to move his assets to France, but not in time. During [[World War II]] he disappeared from public view, to re-emerge in 1945 as a technical advisor with the Belgian State Railways [[NMBS]]/[[SNCB]], making a study of [[light alloy]] [[railcar]]s. In 1947, he rejoined [[Jean Stampe]], having always remained on good terms with him, to become a manager at a new company [[Stampe & Renard]] until that company's dissolution in January 1970. On top of producing the [[Stampe SV.4]] trainer, he worked at propeller engineering, at the development of the [[Stampe & Renard SR-7]] and the [[Stampe & Renard SR-45]] project.

Run over by a motorcar, Alfred Renard died on 20 June 1988.<ref>AELR / Fonds national Alfred Renard, Bruxelles</ref>

== Notes and references ==

{{Reflist}}

{{Alfred Renard aircraft}}
{{Portal|aviation}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Renard, Alfred}}
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:20th-century Belgian businesspeople]]
[[Category:1988 deaths]]
[[Category:1895 births]]
[[Category:People from Anderlecht]]
[[Category:Road incident deaths in Belgium]]
[[Category:Belgian aviators]]
[[Category:Belgian soldiers]]