René Moineau

René Moineau (August 11, 1887 – October 5, 1948) was one of the French pioneers of aviation and an inventor in various branches of aeronautics and fluid mechanics. A pilot and engineer at Bréguet, he designed his own plane, the Salmson-Moineau SM-1, in 1915, then devoted himself to numerous inventions, several patented, including the Moineau pump still used in industry, and the first retractable landing gear (for which he filed the patent in 1918).

Biography The son of Louis Moineau and Marguerite Moitrier, René Joseph Louis Moineau was born in Lisieux on August 11, 1887. The family was originally from Nièvre and Lorraine. He spent his childhood in Versailles, then in Nancy, where he obtained his science degree in 1906 and the engineering degree from the Institute of Electrotechnics and Mechanics.

From 1909 he built his first biplane gliders, before discovering the free balloon and the hot air balloon; he passed his free balloon pilot's license the same year.

Moineau received his Brevet de pilote (French pilot's licence)- N° 544- in July 1911. In November of that year, he flew for Bréguet in the Concours d'Aviation Militaire de 1911 (Reims Military Aviation Competition, 1911).

Mobilized in August 1914 as a pilot, he was first assigned to the Bréguet 17 squadron (V103). After a stint at the Camp Retranché in Paris, he served in the SFA (Service des Fabrications de l'Aviation).

In 1916 he joined the Salmson establishments and designed the Salmson-Moineau SM-1, an unusual reconnaissance aircraft with its engine placed transversely driving two propellers. Some 150 examples were built.

In 1924, he created his company Avions René Moineau.

He remains best known as the inventor (in 1930) of the progressive cavity pump, which is still known by his name.

He died in Brussels, Belgium on October 5, 1948.