Aircraft

A selection of pictures of aircraft seen at Croydon throughout it's history

Wibault

The Wibault company was established in 1919 by Michel Wibault. The planes produced by Wibault in the first decade included reconnaissance, fighter and bomber aircraft, but production shifted mainly to civilian aircraft after 1930. Some of the Wibault designs were quite successful; the Vickers Wibault was a licensed version of the Wibault 7 built by the British company Vickers in the 1920s. In 1930 Société des Avions Michel Wibault built the Wibault-Penhoët 280, which was funded by the Penhoët (Chantiers St. Nazairre) shipyard and the following year the companies merged to form Chantiers Aéronautiques Wibault-Penhoët. That company produced the Wibault-Penhoët 280 series of trimotor airliners, twelve of which were bought by Air France. They also built transport and racing types but in 1934 were taken over by Breguet Aviation who built several Wibault designs including the Breguet 670 twin-engined airliner.

Wibault 280

(below) on the tarmac apron 'Wibault 280' 1934.

(below) Wibault 280.

Wibault 282

(above) 'Wibault 282 T12'. 'L Intripepide'. 1933

(above) 'Wibault 282 T12' of 'Air France'. 1936

(below) a Wibault of Air France.