The Couzinet 33 was made of wood, with a thick cantilever wing with thickness of Шаблон:Cvt at the wing roots; with no dihedral on the upper surface. The wing main-spar was continuous from wing-tip to wing-tip; and the rear spars attached to the fuselage sides. The aircraft was covered with birch plywood, with the fuselage thinning to the rear, forming the characteristic tail of a René Couzinet signature aircraft.[1]
Couzinet designed the plane when he was 27 years old with only 28 flight hours.[2]
Operational history
The biarritz made its first flight in November 1931, clocking up 27 hours flying before departing on a flight from Paris to Nouméa. From 6 March 1932 to 5 April 1932 Emile Munch, Max Dévé and Charles Verneilh flew the Biarritz from France to New Caledonia, the first time a direct flight had succeeded. On arrival at Nouméa the aircraft crashed and was destroyed.[1]
Biarritz No.2
After the wreckage of the Biarritz was shipped back to France, a second aircraft was built using salvageable parts of the first. This aircraft set off on a non-stop flight from Paris to Algiers on 30 October 1933, flown by Charles Verneilh, but crashed in fog at Blaisy-Bas in the Côte-d'Or.[3]
