View source for Armand Dufaux

{{more footnotes needed|date=January 2013}}
[[File:Dufauxarmand.jpg|thumb|Armand Dufaux]]
'''Armand Dufaux''' (1883–1941) was a [[Switzerland|Swiss]] [[aviation]] pioneer who became famous for flying the length of [[Lake Geneva]] in 1910.

His mother was Noémie de Rochefort-Luçay, daughter of French politician [[Victor Henri Rochefort, Marquis de Rochefort-Luçay|Henri Rochefort]] and his father was Swiss artist [[:fr:Frédéric Dufaux|Auguste Frederic Dufaux]], known as Frederic. Armand was one of three children. His older brother [[:fr:Henri Dufaux|Henri Dufaux]] was also an aviation pioneer. Their maternal grandfather Henri Rochefort financially supported his grandsons' initial aeronautic experiments.
[[File:ArmandDufauxAirship.jpg|thumb|Dufaux Airship 1906]]
[[File:Dufaux Helicopter 1905.jpg|thumb|Dufaux [[helicopter]] (1905). [[Musée des Arts et Métiers]], [[Paris]].]]

He and his brother, [[:fr:Henri Dufaux|Henri]], were natives of [[Geneva]]. Their first design was a model [[helicopter]] weighing {{convert|17|kg|abbr=on}}, which successfully achieved flight in April 1905.<ref>{{cite book|last=Longyard|first=William H.|title=Who's Who in Aviation: 500 Biographies History|year=1994|publisher=Presidio Press|location=California|isbn=0-89141-556-4|page=[https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinaviatio0000long/page/61 61]|url-access=registration|url=https://archive.org/details/whoswhoinaviatio0000long/page/61}}</ref> This was followed by a [[Dufaux triplane|triplane]] that was unable to fly, then a third design that crashed on its first flight.

The [[Dufaux 4]] was their first successful craft. On 28 August 1910, Armand flew it from [[St. Gingolph]] to Geneva (about {{convert|40|mi|abbr=on}} in just 56 minutes and 5 seconds, and winning the Perrot-Duval prize of 5,000 Swiss francs for the feat.<ref>{{cite journal |date=3 Sep 1910|title= Foreign Aviation News |journal=[[Flight International|Flight]] |volume=2 |issue=88 |page=719|url= http://www.flightglobal.com/FlightPDFArchive/1910/1910%20-%200719.jpg |access-date=25 Aug 2013}}</ref>

Later that year, the brothers established an aircraft business, and in 1911, sold their Dufaux 5 to 18-year-old [[Ernest Failloubaz]].

A stamp of the Swiss Post published in 1977 is reminiscent of the joint work of the brothers.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2014-07-28 |title=Historisches Archiv |url=http://www.abendblatt.de/archiv/article.php?xmlurl=/ha/1977/xml/19770122xml/habxml770103_2258.xml |access-date=2022-08-30 |website= |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140728032109/http://www.abendblatt.de/archiv/article.php?xmlurl=/ha/1977/xml/19770122xml/habxml770103_2258.xml |archive-date=28 July 2014 |url-status=dead}}</ref> "The Dufaux brothers can make use of the engine flight in Switzerland from the stage of experimentation, the theory, into practice."<ref>{{Citation |title=4 Die Korrespondenz der Nuntien in Luzern |date=2021-07-05 |work=Das Bild der Schweiz bei den Papstgesandten (1586-1654) |pages=69–182 |publisher=De Gruyter |doi=10.1515/9783110718270-004 |isbn=9783110718270 |s2cid=243576652 |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The Dufaux 4 is today on display at the [[Swiss Transport Museum]]. In 1997, Armand Dufaux was honored on a Swiss [[postage stamp]], as one of four pioneers of Swiss aviation.

== References ==
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==External links==
{{commons category}}
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20070101063815/http://www.verkehrshaus.ch/en/museum/luftfahrt/bestof.php Swiss Museum of Transport info on Dufaux]
* [http://www.pionnair-ge.com/spip1/spip.php?article34 Geneva air pioneers page, with timeline] {{in lang|fr}}

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Dufaux, Armand}}
[[Category:1883 births]]
[[Category:1941 deaths]]
[[Category:Aviation pioneers]]
[[Category:Engineers from Geneva]]
[[Category:Swiss aviators]]
[[Category:Swiss Air Force personnel]]


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