enginehistory.org

[wallan]

I've been keeping my eye on a French language book, about the 3 cylinder Anzani engine used by Bleriot to cross the English Channel in 1909. I finally decided to buy a copy, so I sent off 19 Euros, (cost is 15 plus 4 p&p) a French, & English copy, of the order form, and yesterday I was pleasantly surprised to receive a priority letter from the publisher, informing me that an English translation of this book is being published later on this month, and that they would send me a copy ASAP.
The English title is

The Anzani Engine and the Channel Crossing: History of a 100 year old engine, by Jacques Boisnard, translated by Terry Frogatt.

I don't have the ISBN handy, and I'll report back on the contents when my copy arrives.

[wallan]

It arrived last Friday. I’ll give a brief impression.

It’s what I would call a standard museum s/b book on a particular subject, designed to be easily readable.

80 pages, nice glossy paper with clear photographs. It appears that the society who produced it intend having a working replica of Bleriot’s monoplane with an original Anzani engine re-enact his famous flight of 1909 across the Channel. The book describes a bit about the original flight, Mr. Anzani himself, and the society’s efforts in restoring an original Anzani fan engine. The engine they have, (there are pictures of it running, so maybe one of our French members would like to try to find a link to a video of it) is most unusual in that the bolts that hold the cylinder heads on have been removed, and the heads are held on by studs from the crankcase to overhead girders above the heads.
There a number of nice photographs of the dismantled engine, and a few questions are asked that I thought would be common knowledge.
On the downside, the English translation is not the best. It appears that the translator has tried to convey what would appear to be a humorous tone in the original French, which doesn’t quite work. However, for 15 Euros, (plus 4 Euros p/p) it’s still about the only book on the restoration of an Anzani, and as it’s such an unusual engine, I would have been happy with a French language copy.

If anyone wants the ISBN, or details on how to get a copy, let me know.