whatzit ?

[52eme]

hint : it's blue

[52eme]

nice try..

the era is correct, but that's not a caudron

[52eme]

musée de l'air et de l'espace

that's the musée de l'air et de l'espace in Paris - Le Bourget.
Beautiful collection, with many historic and extremly rare flying machines, such as the first seaplane ever flown, the "?", 1st plane to fly from Paris to NY, and many more.

IMHO the way the plans are displayed is not the best : the hangars are very dark, and there is little or no info about the planes. The museum is the property of the French air force, and hopefully things are changing.

definitely worth a visit if you're in the area..

Musée de l'Air et de l'Espace

this one is a one-off french fighter prototype from the '50s, one of my favorites :

[52eme]

...and not a GeeBee Z

it had half the horsepower of the Z, and was only 30mph slower..

an other hint,
it won the '33 Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe race

[W J Pearce]

Don't know the racer. The one-off fighter is a Sud-Ouest SO 9000 Trident. Actually two were built but the second crashed on it's maiden flight. It gave way to the Sud-Ouest SO 9050 of simular design. By the way, I'm not this smart, I had to look the thing up.

[52eme]

side view

this should make it easier...

[W J Pearce]

Got it

I have the answer, but I really cheated. Because of my blatant cheating I won't spoil the fun for Bear. The manufacturer and model number are on the tail, but have been obscured for our challenge and the s/n is 3402 (I think). Absolutely a beautiful aircraft and a fabulous museum. My sincerest thanks go to you for sharing. Glad to see people cherishing history. I must admit I am disappointed not finding the aircraft in any of my "Complete Aircraft" books. If I ever find myself in France, I will make sure to go and visit the museum; after I figure out how I got to France.

Thank you,

Bill Pearce

[52eme]

Re: Got it

Congrats Bill, you've got it ! and thanks for the nice words

I think you may find a good reason for going to france soon, but i'll post about this later..

Thanks Bill

Originally posted by W J Pearce
I have the answer, but I really cheated. Because of my blatant cheating I won't spoil the fun for Bear. The manufacturer and model number are on the tail, but have been obscured for our challenge and the s/n is 3402 (I think). Absolutely a beautiful aircraft and a fabulous museum. My sincerest thanks go to you for sharing. Glad to see people cherishing history. I must admit I am disappointed not finding the aircraft in any of my "Complete Aircraft" books. If I ever find myself in France, I will make sure to go and visit the museum; after I figure out how I got to France.

Thank you,

Bill Pearce