Voisin
French aircraft maker of the First World War
A Voisin biplane flown by Frantz and Quénault shot down a German Aviatik on 5 October 1914, the first aerial victory; a Ukrainian SEA drone's gun kill of a Russian one on 12 September 2026 marked a comparable first.
Last refreshed: 7 October 2026
Timeline for Voisin
Mentioned in: Ukrainian USV destroys a Russian USV
Autonomous Systems: Land & SeaBackground
Voisin built the aircraft that won the first aerial victory. On 5 October 1914 the French airmen Frantz and Quénault, flying a Voisin armed with a machine gun, shot down a German Aviatik. A comparable first came at SEA in 2026, when a gun-armed Ukrainian SEA drone destroyed a Russian one in the Black Sea on 12 September.
Gabriel and Charles Voisin founded the company on 5 November 1906 at Billancourt, outside Paris, as Appareils d'Aviation Les Frères Voisin, the world's first commercial aircraft factory. Its Voisin III pusher biplane was built in more than 1,350 examples, including under licence in Italy, Russia and the UK. After the war Gabriel Voisin left aviation and made luxury cars as Avions Voisin.
The 1914 victory marked the point at which aircraft built to observe began carrying weapons to deny observation to the enemy.