September of 1951 found Frenchman Fred Nicole in Lausanne, Switzerland on the shores of Lac Leman (lake Geneva) and he was thinking about a new trick for his airshows. Inverted flight was his specialty, but he was looking for something more spectacular. Early one morning he flew out over the lake with the local debris spotting aircraft and once in the center (presumably to stay out of trouble with both the Swiss and French authorities) he rolled inverted over the calm surface and eased down until he was mere inches above the water.
At the moment he judged right, he set full power and pushed gently forward dipping the fin into the water and holding it there, creating a long "rooster tail" of spray as the fin of his Jungmeister dragged through the water!
Fred Nicole off the coast of Cannes on the French riviera on Sept 9th 1951
Fred went on to make this amazing feat a standard part of his airshow routine wherever there was water available and according to Anette Carson did so with perfect reliability. A modest Fred Nicole was quoted as saying: "In
Cannes, in the sea, it was more difficult than on Lake Geneva. From the
lake, the water surface is smooth, while the sea, it moves all the
time."
It must have taken some nerve to perform this maneuver at any time, but can you imagine trying it for the very first time?
Fred Nicole died in Paris in February 1997 at age 86.
An update from David Martin:
Just saw the pictures of Fred Nicole on the website, his Jungmeister was the one I bought from Jay Sieler in 1990, I sold it in the late 90's. I was told by Jay that it was a German airplane that was buried during war to keep it from being destroyed.
It was acquired by Nicole sometime after the war and rebuilt. I was never able to find much information to confirm this. I do believe it was a German airframe, none of the sheet metal was original, and I think the wood had all been replaced. If the currant owner ever rebuilds it maybe he will find more clues when the fabric is removed. Think I do have an original photo of it somewhere. Here is a photo just before I sold it.
David
It must have taken some nerve to perform this maneuver at any time, but can you imagine trying it for the very first time?
Fred Nicole died in Paris in February 1997 at age 86.
An update from David Martin:
Just saw the pictures of Fred Nicole on the website, his Jungmeister was the one I bought from Jay Sieler in 1990, I sold it in the late 90's. I was told by Jay that it was a German airplane that was buried during war to keep it from being destroyed.
It was acquired by Nicole sometime after the war and rebuilt. I was never able to find much information to confirm this. I do believe it was a German airframe, none of the sheet metal was original, and I think the wood had all been replaced. If the currant owner ever rebuilds it maybe he will find more clues when the fabric is removed. Think I do have an original photo of it somewhere. Here is a photo just before I sold it.
David