144 pages, 141x18,5 cm, soft cover

Les Cerfs-Volants

45 modèles à construire

written by Charles Lebailly, published 1956

 

Excellent longevity for this booklet which the first edition was in 1938. There is a second sub-title: "How to make them. How to use them".

In the first pages it begins with some general explanations. Then there is a long list of kites, shared in four categories. At last all the kites are described, one by one, in the same order about: the material, the plan, an explication on the construction. After we are granted with two pages on the manoeuvre of kites.

To end, the author assess that all kites are excellent flyers. There are some that I would like to test like the Marcel Berthon. There are some mythic kites:  the aeroplan, the tri-cellular Potter, the Roch Donzella, the Hargrave and Saconnay, the parallelepipedic bird type, which in fact is the "roi du ciel", the Madiot, the parallelepipedic Schreiber's type, the "torpilleur" (Torpedo), The Bleriot, the Bergeronnette, the Conyne, the Franklin, the Elkins...

A very basic book, very brief and efficient. All dimensions are small, so you can make them double.

If you have the opportunity to find one, take it and choose a model to make. You will take a real pleasure.

It was impossible not to have in this kite bibliography such book which has inspired so many kiters in France during several decades.