Biography

Alfred Renard was born in Anderlecht

Anderlecht

Anderlecht is one of the nineteen municipalities located in the Brussels-Capital Region.There are several historically and architecturally distinct districts within the Anderlecht municipality.-Pronunciation:* Dutch: * French:...

 on 21 April 1895. Already as a youngster, inspired by kites he saw his father make, he illustrated his technical ability by installing electricity and telephone at an uncle's farm.

In 1912, his inspiration is kindled by a prize of 10.000 franc

Franc

The franc is the name of several currency units, most notably the Swiss franc, still a major world currency today due to the prominence of Swiss financial institutions and the former currency of France, the French franc until the Euro was adopted in 1999...

s, offered by French car builder Peugeot

Peugeot

Peugeot is a major French car brand, part of PSA Peugeot Citroën, the second largest carmaker based in Europe.The family business that precedes the current Peugeot company was founded in 1810, and manufactured coffee mills and bicycles. On 20 November 1858, Emile Peugeot applied for the lion...

 to the first cyclist to cover two flights, of 10 metres each, solely on her/his own muscular power. Alfred conceives and, with help from his brother Georges, concocts his own device for the test: a bicycle augmented with a home-brew propeller and a fabric-covered wing, unfolding through a lever when reaching the proper speed. The machine never flies, however, and the prize is carried by one Poulain.

During the first world war the brothers work a pedal-powered lathe

Lathe

A lathe is a machine tool which rotates the workpiece on its axis to perform various operations such as cutting, sanding, knurling, drilling, or deformation with tools that are applied to the workpiece to create an object which has symmetry about an axis of rotation.Lathes are used in woodturning,...

, producing pieces for a Brussels workshop under the rafters of the family home; they also construct engines. They even venture into building a 5 metres long blimp

Blimp

A blimp, or non-rigid airship, is a floating airship without an internal supporting framework or keel. A non-rigid airship differs from a semi-rigid airship and a rigid airship in that it does not have any rigid structure, neither a complete framework nor a partial keel, to help the airbag...

 that they fill with compressed air, their parents judging gas too dangerous.

The same First World War forces Alfred Renard to suspend his study at the Université libre de Bruxelles

Université Libre de Bruxelles

The Université libre de Bruxelles is a French-speaking university in Brussels, Belgium. It has 21,000 students, 29% of whom come from abroad, and an equally cosmopolitan staff.-Name:...

 and the "Faculté des sciences appliquées", just at a time when aviation makes great progress. Only in 1920 will he gain his engineer's degree in civil construction, plus a "licence" (more or less a Bachelor's degree) in aeronautics .

After study came the tour of soldier's duty - especially important in this small country that had suffered heavily under the war, and was taking part in the occupation of Western Germany. Renard served as a cartographer, designing military aerodromes. During this service he re-acquainted one of his former university teachers, Emile Allard, newly appointed chief of the military aviation technical service TSA, and creator of a Belgian Aeronautical Laboratory. After several visits to Gustave Eiffel

Gustave Eiffel

Alexandre Gustave Eiffel was a French structural engineer from the École Centrale Paris, an architect, an entrepreneur and a specialist of metallic structures...

 in Paris, the two of them would build a wind tunnel

Wind tunnel

A wind tunnel is a research tool used in aerodynamic research to study the effects of air moving past solid objects.-Theory of operation:Wind tunnels were first proposed as a means of studying vehicles in free flight...

 at Sint-Genesius-Rode

Sint-Genesius-Rode

Sint-Genesius-Rode is a municipality located in Flanders, one of three regions of Belgium, in the province of Flemish Brabant. The municipality comprises the town of Sint-Genesius-Rode only. On January 1, 2008, the town had a total population of 18,021...

. They also designed an all-metal monoplane, built at Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge

Zeebrugge is a village on the coast of Belgium and a subdivision of Bruges, for which it is the modern port. Zeebrugge serves as both the international port of Bruges-Zeebrugge and a seafront resort with hotels, cafés, a marina and a beach.-Location:...

 by company ZACCO (best known under the French acronym ACAZ) as the ACAZ T-2

ACAZ T-2

The ACAZ T-2 was a Belgian aircraft, one of the world's first monoplanes built entirely of metal.The T-2 was designed by Alfred Renard and Emile Allard in 1924 and while ahead of its time, did not attract any buyers and so never entered production. Only one plane was built.The first ever built...

. It failed to meet commercial success .

Through the same Emile Allard, Renard got in touch with Jean Stampe and his cherished dream of operating his own flying school with his self-designed and self-built solid trainer aircraft. The venture was completed with Maurice Vertongen, its designs marked RSV for Renard-Stampe-Vertongen. The company statute left Renard free to keep his position as chief engineer at the Defense Ministry, meanwhile designing RSV-aircraft built and sold by Stampe et Vertongen

Renard Constructions Aéronautiques

In 1925 Alfred Renard creates his own company as Société anonyme des avions et moteurs Renard in Brussels

Brussels

Brussels , officially the Brussels Region or Brussels-Capital Region , is the capital of Belgium and the de facto capital of the European Union...

. The main activity was the design and production of aircraft engines of 100, 120 and 240 hp. Some of them served Belgian military aviation, some were sold in Poland and in the USA. Also, a Renard 240 hp engine powered the second version of Belgium's first helicopter, built by and named after Russian engineer Nicolas Florine

Nicolas Florine

Nicolas Florine, born Nikolay Florin , was an engineer that built the first tandem rotor helicopter to fly freely in Belgium in 1933. He was born in Batoum, Georgia.-External links:*...

.
In 1928, his brother Georges Renard joined the company which was then renamed Renard Constructions Aéronautiques. The brothers shifted away from engine design: their R-31

Renard R-31

-See also:-Bibliography:* Green, William. War Planes of the Second World War, Volume Seven: Bombers and Reconnaissance Aircraft. London: Macdonald & Co. Ltd., 1967. ISBN 0356-01477-0....

 and R-36

Renard R-36

The Renard R-36 was a Belgian all-metal fighter aircraft designed to replace the Fairey Firefly II within the Belgian Air Force. Designed to improve on the Renard Epervier, which was never adopted by the Belgian government, the prototype R-36 first flew on 5 November 1937...

 were powered by engines from abroad.

Second world war and aftermath

Foreseeing the German invasion in 1940, Alfred Renard planned to move his assets to France, but not in time. During the second world war he disappeared from public view, to re-emerge in 1945 as a technical advisor with the Belgian State Railways NMBS/SNCB, making a study of light alloy railcar

Railcar

A railcar, in British English and Australian English, is a self-propelled railway vehicle designed to transport passengers. The term "railcar" is usually used in reference to a train consisting of a single coach , with a driver's cab at one or both ends. Some railways, e.g., the Great Western...

s. In 1947 he rejoins Jean Stampe, having always remained on good terms with him, to become a manager at a new company Stampe & Renard till that company's dissolution in January 1970. On top of producing the Stampe SV.4

Stampe SV.4

-Bibliography:* Pacco, John. "Stampe & Vertongen SV-4B" Belgisch Leger/Armee Belge: Het Militair Vliegwezen/l'Aeronautique Militaire 1930-1940. Aartselaar, Belgium, 2003, pp. 85-86. ISBN 90-801136-6-2....

 trainer, he works at propeller engineering, at the development of the Stampe & Renard SR-7 and the Stampe & Renard SR-45 project.

Run over by a motorcar, Alfred Renard died on 20 June 1988.