The Esnault-Pelterie R.E.P. 1 and the R.E.P. 2 were experimental aircraft built and flown in France in the early twentieth century by

Robert Esnault-Pelterie Robert Albert Charles Esnault-Pelterie (8 November 1881 – 6 December 1957) was a French aircraft designer and spaceflight theorist. He is referred to as being one of the founders of modern rocketry and astronautics, along with the Russian Kons ...

. These aircraft are historically significant because they were the first to employ a

joystick A joystick, sometimes called a flight stick, is an input device consisting of a stick that pivots on a base and reports its angle or direction to the device it is controlling. A joystick, also known as the control column, is the principal cont ...

as their main flight control.

R.E.P. 1

The REP 1 was a single-seat

tractor configuration In aviation, the term tractor configuration refers to an aircraft constructed in the standard configuration with its engine mounted with the propeller in front of it so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. Oppositely, the pusher c ...

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 ...

powered by a seven-cylinder two-row semi-radial engine driving a four-bladed propeller with aluminium blades rivetted to steel tubes. The

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

was made largely of steel tubing covered in varnished silk and the wings of wood. An elongated triangular fixed horizontal stabiliser was mounted on top of the rear fuselage with a rectangular

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, ...

mounted on the trailing edge, and a fixed fin and rudder were mounted under the fuselage. Lateral control was effected by

wing-warping Wing warping was an early system for lateral (roll) control of a fixed-wing aircraft. The technique, used and patented by the Wright brothers, consisted of a system of pulleys and cables to twist the trailing edges of the wings in opposite direc ...

. The main landing gear consisted of a single centrally mounted wheel mounted on a pneumatic damper, with a small tailwheel mounted on the rudder. Large outrigger wheels were fitted to the tips of the wings, which featured marked anhedral. Esnault-Pelterie began testing the R.E.P. 1 in September 1907, initially flying the aircraft as a

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

before attempting powered flights. Throughout October, these flights became increasingly successful. The R.E.P. 1 is preserved at the

Musée des Arts et Métiers The Musée des Arts et Métiers () ( French for Museum of Arts and Crafts) is an industrial design museum in Paris that houses the collection of the Conservatoire national des arts et métiers, which was founded in 1794 as a repository for the p ...

in Paris.

R.E.P. 2

The R.E.P. 2 differed from the R.E.P. 1 in having a slightly different undercarriage (of the same general arrangement) in addition to a large ventral

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevators and ...

. Tests with the R.E.P. 2 commenced in June 1908, and on 8 June a flight of was made, reaching an altitude of 30 m (100 ft), setting a height and distance record for monoplanes. The aircraft was then modified by the addition of a trapezoidal dorsal fin, to create the R.E.P. ''bis''. In this form, piloted by M. Châteaux, it won the third Ae.C.F. prize for a flight of over 200 metres on 21 November 1908, with an officially observed flight of . It was then exhibited at the Paris Aero Salon in December 1908 and at the Aero Show at Olympia in London in 1909. It was entered for the ''

Grande Semaine d'Aviation The ''Grande Semaine d'Aviation de la Champagne'' was an 8-day aviation meeting held near Reims in France in 1909, so-named because it was sponsored by the major local champagne growers. It is celebrated as the first international public flying e ...

'' in

Reims Reims ( , , ; also spelled Rheims in English) is the most populous city in the French department of Marne, and the 12th most populous city in France. The city lies northeast of Paris on the Vesle river, a tributary of the Aisne. Founded by ...

in August 1909, but Esnault-Pelterie did not compete there owing to an injury to his hand.

Specifications (R.E.P. 1)

Notes

References

* Gibbs-Smith, C. H. ''Aviation''. London: NMSI, 2003 . * Opdycke. Leonard E. ''French Aeroplanes before the Great War''. Atglen, PA: Schiffer, 1999 * Taylor, M. J. H. ''Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation''. London: Studio Editions, 1989 p. 351 * ''World Aircraft Information Files''. London: Bright Star, File 893 Sheet 06 {{Esnault-Pelterie aircraft 1900s French experimental aircraft REP aircraft High-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1907 Aircraft first flown in 1908