The Lumière-de Monge racer was built specifically to compete in the 1921

Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe The Coupe Deutsch de la Meurthe was an international aeronautical speed competition instituted on 25 August 1909 by the French oil magnate Henry Deutsch de la Meurthe. The race was reinstated three times through the years at the initiative of the ...

and was flown at Etampes on 1 October 1921. In addition to its speed, it was unusual in being a

high wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

which could be rapidly converted into a

biplane A biplane is a fixed-wing aircraft with two main wings stacked one above the other. The first powered, controlled aeroplane to fly, the Wright Flyer, used a biplane wing arrangement, as did many aircraft in the early years of aviation. While ...

by adding a smaller lower wing. It crashed before the race, killing its pilot, and was unable to participate.

Design and development

The structure of the racer throughout was wooden and its covering

fabric Textile is an umbrella term that includes various fiber-based materials, including fibers, yarns, filaments, threads, different fabric types, etc. At first, the word "textiles" only referred to woven fabrics. However, weaving is not the ...

. The one-piece permanent, upper wing, trapezoidal in

plan A plan is typically any diagram or list of steps with details of timing and resources, used to achieve an objective to do something. It is commonly understood as a temporal set of intended actions through which one expects to achieve a goal. F ...

and with an aspect ratio of only 4.3, was built around two

spars The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women's Reserve, also known as the SPARS (SPARS was the acronym for "Semper Paratus—Always Ready"), was the women's branch of the United States Coast Guard Reserve. It was established by the United States ...

, the forward one in two parts parallel to the

leading edge The leading edge of an airfoil surface such as a wing is its foremost edge and is therefore the part which first meets the oncoming air.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 305. Aviation Supplies & Academics, ...

s and the one-piece rear spar perpendicular to the aircraft's axis. It was mounted on the top of the fuselage on a long, streamlined pylon that included the pilot's cabin and was braced to the lower fuselage by a single

strut A strut is a structural component commonly found in engineering, aeronautics, architecture and anatomy. Struts generally work by resisting longitudinal compression, but they may also serve in tension. Human anatomy Part of the functionality o ...

on each side, made from layers of

mahogany Mahogany is a straight-grained, reddish-brown timber of three tropical hardwood species of the genus ''Swietenia'', indigenous to the AmericasBridgewater, Samuel (2012). ''A Natural History of Belize: Inside the Maya Forest''. Austin: Unive ...

in the same way as the aircraft propellers de Monge was well known for.

Ailerons An aileron (French for "little wing" or "fin") is a hinged flight control surface usually forming part of the trailing edge of each wing of a fixed-wing aircraft. Ailerons are used in pairs to control the aircraft in Flight dynamics, roll (or ...

were fitted only on the upper wing. The two-piece, rectangular plan lower wing, with three-quarters of the span of the upper wing but only one-third of its area, was mounted on the lower fuselage and braced to the upper wing by V-struts. The racer was powered by a , liquid cooled V-8

Hispano-Suiza 8F The Hispano-Suiza 8 was a water-cooled V8 SOHC aero engine introduced by Hispano-Suiza in 1914, and was the most commonly used liquid-cooled engine in the aircraft of the Entente Powers during the First World War. The original Hispano-Suiza 8A ...

b engine, closely cowled and with a cylindrical Lamblin

radiator Radiators are heat exchangers used to transfer thermal energy from one medium to another for the purpose of cooling and heating. The majority of radiators are constructed to function in cars, buildings, and electronics. A radiator is always a ...

mounted axially above the upper wing. Its fuel tank was in the fuselage, which was built in a novel way based on an internal tapered tube with clamping frames around it. Externally the fuselage was rounded in section and slimmed down markedly to the tail. There was an opening in the tube for the pilot's cabin in the rear part of the wing pylon, near mid- chord. It was accessed via a side door and had large side windows giving good lateral vision, even with the lower wing in place, and there was a transparent panel in the upper wing over the cockpit but the pylon ahead limited the forward view. The Monge had a conventional tail, with a generous

tailplane A tailplane, also known as a horizontal stabiliser, is a small lifting surface located on the tail (empennage) behind the main lifting surfaces of a fixed-wing aircraft as well as other non-fixed-wing aircraft such as helicopters and gyroplane ...

low on the fuselage carrying notched

elevator An elevator or lift is a wire rope, cable-assisted, hydraulic cylinder-assisted, or roller-track assisted machine that vertically transports people or freight between floors, levels, or deck (building), decks of a building, watercraft, ...

s and with an overall roughly oval plan. Its

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

was integrated into the fuselage and carried a D-shaped

rudder A rudder is a primary control surface used to steer a ship, boat, submarine, hovercraft, aircraft, or other vehicle that moves through a fluid medium (generally aircraft, air or watercraft, water). On an aircraft the rudder is used primarily to ...

that reached downwards to match an extension of the lower fuselage under the tailplane that carried a rubber-damped tailskid. The fixed main

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for takeoff or landing. For aircraft it is generally needed for both. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, such as the Glenn L. Martin ...

had mainwheels on a single axle, with shock absorbers within a streamlined housing that joined the landing legs. The legs were also enclosed in fairings. The exact date of the de Monge's first flight is not known but was before mid-July 1921, when Bernard de Romanet flew it at

Orly Orly () is a commune in the southern suburbs of Paris, Île-de-France. It is located from the center of Paris. The name of Orly came from Latin ''Aureliacum'', "the villa of Aurelius". Orly Airport partially lies on the territory of the comm ...

. Development flights continued into September without reported problems, but on 23 September de Romanet flew it as a monoplane, with the lower wings removed, for the first time. He took-off safely but when he opened the throttle and the aircraft accelerated, the fabric covering of one wing peeled away. De Romanet died in the crash. Some of the racer's characteristics, the fuselage in particular, are seen in the Buscaylet-de Monge 5/2, a 1922 fighter designed after Monge's move to Buscaylet et Cie. However, the fighter's

parasol wing A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple planes. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing confi ...

was a completely new design, all-metal, swept and with a higher aspect ratio.

Specifications

Notes

References

{{reflist, 2, refs= {{cite journal , date=14 July 1921, title=Les essais du "De Monge", journal=Les Ailes, issue=4 , pages=2, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6555950b/f2 {{cite journal , date=15 September 1921, title=Nouveaux Essais du "de Monge", journal=Les Ailes, issue=13 , pages=1, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k65559592/f1 {{cite journal , last=Lemonon , first=E-H , date=25 August 1921, title=L'avion de Monge, journal=Les Ailes, issue=10 , pages=2, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6555956t/f2 {{cite journal , last=Serryer , first=J , date=3 January 1924, title=L'avion Louis de Monge, journal=Les Ailes, issue=133, pages=2–3, url=http://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k6555947v/f545 {{cite journal , date=29 September 1921 , title=Death of Bernard de Romanet, journal=

Flight Flight or flying is the process by which an object moves through a space without contacting any planetary surface, either within an atmosphere (i.e. air flight or aviation) or through the vacuum of outer space (i.e. spaceflight). This can be a ...

, volume=XIII , issue=39 , pages=651 , url=https://www.flightglobal.com/pdfarchive/view/1921/1921%20-%200651.html {{cite web , url=https://www.aviafrance.com/lumiere-de-monge-aviation-france-9906.htm, title=Lumière-de Monge racer , author=Bruno Parmentier , date= 12 March 2005, accessdate=18 October 2017 Racing aircraft 1920s French sport aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1921 Single-engined tractor aircraft