Biographical Sketches

ETIENNE DORMOY

Born: February 10, 1885    In: Vandoncourt, France
Died: February 28, 1959    In: San Diego, CA

Etienne Dormoy graduated from the Industrial Institute of Northern France in Lille in 1906 with a Civil Engineering degree from the Electrical Department. He joined the French Military soon after as an engineer. After completing his service, he joined the Deperdussin Co. as a draftsman where he designed and built the world’s first monocoque fuselage. Dormoy first came to the U.S. in 1913 and built a racer for Maximillian Schmidt, our nation’s first true monocoque fuselage, which won the 1914 New York Times Fourth of July Race. Dormoy returned to France and joined the French Air Force and became a pilot in 1915. He flew bombers before becoming one of the first pilots to make night flights in search of Zeppelins. In 1916 Dormoy was sent back to Deperdussin by the French Air Force to help design the SPAD (Societe Pour Avions Deperdussin) fighter.

When his military service ended in 1917, through an agreement with the U.S. Army Signal Corps and Deperdussin, Dormoy was brought to the U.S. to teach Americans how to build the SPAD at Curtiss’ Elmwood factory. Several fuselages were made, but none was finished due to a shortage of Hispano engines. He joined the U.S. Air Service as a civil engineer in 1920.

During this time he built his 1924 "Flying Bathtub" in his basement out of parts from a hardware store. The Henderson Motorcycle engine was the only component not from the hardware store. His plane won the 1924 Dayton Daily News Light Airplane Contest and the Rickenbacker Trophy. Dormoy left the AAC in 1925 and joined Buhl Aircraft in 1927. He designed or helped design all the Buhl planes including the Spokane Sun God, first plane to fly transcontinental round-trip non-stop, from Spokane to New York City and back, using aerial refueling.

After Buhl ended operations due to the Depression, Dormoy joined Boeing, where he became part of the P-26 design team. He became a U.S. citizen in Seattle, then left Boeing to join Consolidated Aircraft, who sent him to Russia to oversee an American crew helping Russians build the PBY. During his lengthy career with Consolidated/Convair he designed or helped design many planes, including the PBY Catalina. He retired from Convair in 1958 as senior design engineer, and died of a heart ailment the following year. (Richard Meister)

Denotes an individual known to have soloed an aircraft prior to December 16, 1917, whether they were members of the "Early Birds of Aviation" Organization or not.