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The Deperdussin 1912 Racing Monoplane was a French aircraft built by Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin especially for racing. It is notable for being the first aircraft to exceed 100 mph (161 km/h) in level flight.[1]

Deperdussin 1912 Racing Monoplane
Role	Racing aircraft Type of aircraft
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Société de Production des Aéroplanes Deperdussin
Designer	Louis Béchereau
First flight	late 1911/early 1912

Design and development

The year 1912 marked a turning point in the aeronautical construction company Deperdussin. Under the direction of Louis Bechereau, fully supported by Armand Deperdussin, the design office produced an aircraft specially designed for speed. The design, the Deperdussin 1912 Racer, was a high-wing monoplane with unusual wings, being tapered so that their chord was greater at the tips (1.60 m wide) than at the root (1.30 m wide), this ensuring better wing-warping for lateral control. The fuselage consisted of a wooden box-girder entirely skinned with plywood, with the rounded top and bottom built up from laminations of wood. This type of stressed skin construction, pioneered by the Swiss engineer Eugene Ruchonnet, was extremely advanced for its time, and was an intermediate design between the early Deperdussin monoplane types of 1910 and 1911 and the fully monocoque design of the Deperdussin Monocoque, that appeared later in the year.[2]

Great attention was paid to producing an aerodynamically clean design: the tailskid was arranged so that its bungee cord springing was inside the fuselage, the wheels had disks covering the spokes to reduce drag, and the wing-warping control wires were carried inside the inverted-v cabane struts situated in front of the cockpit.[2]

It was powered by a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome double Omega 14-cylinder twin-row rotary engine and had an undercarriage made from three-ply U-shaped pieces.

It was first flown late in 1911 or early in 1912; Jules Védrines is recorded as making "fast flights" in the aircraft on 2 January 1912. A number of record-breaking flights followed, and on 22 February Védrines succeeded in flying it at over 100 mph (160 km/h), flying a distance of 200 km (120 mi) in 1 h 15 min 20.8 s, an average speed of 169 km/h (105 mph)[3] By this time the engine had been replaced by the more powerful 140 hp (100 kW) Gnome double Lambda engine.

This type was flown by Jules Védrines and Maurice Prévost at the Gordon Bennett Trophy race, held on 9 September 2012 in Clearing, Illinois. The race was 30 laps around an elliptical 4.14 mi (6.66 km) course, for a total distance of 124.8 mi (200.8 km). Védrines took first prize (in a 140 hp Deperdussin) and Prévost, second (in a 100 hp Deperdussin).

It is probable that this aircraft was the aircraft being flown by Vedrines when he crashed at Épinay on 29 April during an attempt to fly from Brussels to Madrid in a single day.[4]

Specifications (first example)

Data from Flight International[5]

General characteristics

• Crew: 1
• Length: 7.0 m (23 ft)
• Wingspan: 6.25 m (20 ft 6 in)
• Height: 2.30 m (7 ft 7 in)
• Wing area: 9.3 m² (100 sq ft)
• Powerplant: 1 × Gnome Lambda Lambda 14-cylinder twin-row air-cooled rotary, 100 kW (140 hp)
• Propellers: 2-bladed Chauvière, 2.50 m (8 ft 2 in) diameter

Performance

• Maximum speed: 169 km/h (105 mph, 91 kn) (speed measured flying a circuit)

References

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