Aviation Photo #1492573 Leduc 010 - Untitled

A piloted ramjet, first flown in powered flight on April 21st 1949. As a ramjet needs forward speed to operate, it was carried aloft by a Sud-Est Languedoc mothership and released at altitude. In flight testing, it reached speeds as high as M=.85. On display in the Musee de l'Air et de l'Espace. Of the two names on the aircraft, Rene Lorin was the inventor of the ramjet and Jean Villey published the detailed theory of the ramjet.