The Bugatti Model 100 was a purpose built air racer designed to compete in the 1939 Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup Race. The aircraft was not completed by the September 1939 deadline and was put in storage prior to the

German invasion of France France has been invaded on numerous occasions, by foreign powers or rival French governments; there have also been unimplemented invasion plans. * the 1746 War of the Austrian Succession, Austria-Italian forces supported by the British navy attemp ...

Development

Ettore Bugatti Ettore Arco Isidoro Bugatti (15 September 1881 – 21 August 1947) was an Italian-born French automobile designer and manufacturer. He is remembered as the founder and proprietor of the automobile manufacturing company Automobiles E. Bugatti, wh ...

started work in 1938 to design a racer to compete in the Deutsch de la Meurthe Cup Race, using engines sold in his automotive line for co-marketing. Bugatti's chief engineer was

Louis de Monge Louis de Monge (Vicomte Pierre Louis de Monge de Franeau) (1890–New York, 25 July 1977) was a notable Belgian engineer. He is mainly remembered as the designer of the Bugatti Model 100 racing aircraft. Career He was interested in aircraft from h ...

, with whom Bugatti had worked before. Bugatti was also approached by the government of France to use the technology of the racing aircraft to develop a fighter variant for mass production. The aircraft was the source of five modern patents, including the inline engines, v-tail mixer controls and the automatic flap system.

Design

The Model 100 had an unusual inboard mounted twin engine arrangement driving forward-mounted

contra-rotating propellers Aircraft equipped with contra-rotating propellers, also referred to as CRP, coaxial contra-rotating propellers, or high-speed propellers, apply the maximum power of usually a single piston or turboprop engine to drive a pair of coaxial propell ...

through driveshafts. The aircraft also featured a 120-degree

v-tail The V-tail or ''Vee-tail'' (sometimes called a butterfly tail or Rudlicki's V-tailGudmundsson S. (2013). "General Aviation Aircraft Design: Applied Methods and Procedures" (Reprint). Butterworth-Heinemann. p. 489. , 9780123973290) of an aircraft ...

arrangement and

retractable 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 ...

. The construction was mostly of wood, with sandwiched layers of balsa and hardwoods, including

tulipwood Most commonly, tulipwood is the greenish yellowish wood yielded from the tulip tree, found on the Eastern side of North America and a similar species in some parts of China. In the United States, it is commonly known as tulip poplar or yellow po ...

stringers covered with doped fabric.

Operational history

With the outbreak of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

and the imminent fall of Paris, Bugatti had the aircraft disassembled and hidden on his estate. Bugatti died in 1947, having never resumed work on it. The aircraft remained in storage throughout World War II. It was sold several times and its twin Bugatti 50P engines were removed for automotive restorations. In 1971 a restoration effort was started. The aircraft was stored by the

National Museum of the United States Air Force The National Museum of the United States Air Force (formerly the United States Air Force Museum) is the official museum of the United States Air Force located at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base, northeast of Dayton, Ohio. The NMUSAF is the ...

, then transferred to the

EAA Aviation Museum The EAA Aviation Museum, formerly the EAA AirVenture Museum (or Air Adventure Museum), is a museum dedicated to the preservation and display of historic and experimental aircraft as well as antiques, classics, and warbirds. The museum is lo ...

collection where restoration was completed and it remains there on static display.

Blue Dream reproduction aircraft

A full scale flying reproduction was constructed by a team of enthusiasts, most notably Scotty Wilson and John Lawson. Modern materials were used within reason, allowing for cost and safety. The use of

magnesium Magnesium is a chemical element with the symbol Mg and atomic number 12. It is a shiny gray metal having a low density, low melting point and high chemical reactivity. Like the other alkaline earth metals (group 2 of the periodic ta ...

, named in the original design to save weight, was rejected due to its flammability and cost. A wood composite, DuraKore, was used in place of the original tulipwood and glued in place with modern epoxy. The doped fabric was replaced with

fiberglass Fiberglass (American English) or fibreglass ( Commonwealth English) is a common type of fiber-reinforced plastic using glass fiber. The fibers may be randomly arranged, flattened into a sheet called a chopped strand mat, or woven into glass clo ...

. The partially completed aircraft was displayed at the

EAA AirVenture Oshkosh EAA AirVenture Oshkosh (formerly the EAA Annual Convention and Fly-In), or just Oshkosh, is an annual air show and gathering of aviation enthusiasts held each summer at Wittman Regional Airport and adjacent Pioneer Airport in Oshkosh, Wisconsi ...

convention in 2011. On 4 July 2015 the reproduction aircraft, named ''Blue Dream'' taxied under the power of its two

Suzuki Hayabusa The Suzuki GSX1300R Hayabusa is a sports motorcycle made by Suzuki since 1999. It immediately won acclaim as the world's fastest production motorcycle, with a top speed of . In 1999, fears of a European regulatory backlash or import ban led to ...

engines at Tulsa, Oklahoma. On 19 August 2015 the team announced that they had completed their first successful test flight of the replica aircraft. Its handling characteristics were "as expected" by the team and it achieved a maximum altitude of 100 feet (30 meters) AGL at a maximum speed of 110 knots (200 km/h). On landing though the plane "floated much more than anticipated" and landed significantly farther down the runway than intended. Because of this the wheel brakes needed to be applied to keep from overrunning the end of the runway. Subsequently, the right brake failed, sending the aircraft into the muddy soil adjacent to the runway, tipping it up in its nose and generating a prop and

spinner Technology *Spinner (aeronautics), the aerodynamic cone at the hub of an aircraft propeller * Spinner (cell culture), laboratory equipment for cultivating plant or mammalian cells * Spinner (computing), a graphical widget in a GUI * Spinner (MIT Med ...

strike. In October it made a successful flight.

Crash of reproduction aircraft

On 6 August 2016 the reproduction aircraft crashed during its third test flight near

Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base Clinton-Sherman Air Force Base (1954–1969) is a former United States Air Force Strategic Air Command base located near the town of Burns Flat in Washita County, Oklahoma, 15 miles (24 km) southwest of the city of Clinton, Oklahoma. Toda ...

in Oklahoma, killing the pilot, Scotty Wilson. Less than a minute into its third and final flight, the aircraft banked sharply to the left and dived into a nearby field. The plane impacted nose-first, instantly killing the pilot. The aircraft was destroyed in the crash and subsequent fire. It had been planned to retire the aircraft after this flight to an unnamed museum in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

. The crash has been investigated by the National Transportation Safety Board. The structural engineer from the project, Frank van Dalen, wrote an independent investigation report about the 100P crash. The gearbox from the crashed reproduction aircraft is on display at the Musée de la Chartreuse, Molsheim.

Variants

The Bugatti Model 110P was a proposed militarized pursuit version of the model 100 racer. It never materialised.

Specifications (Bugatti Model 100)

References

Bibliography

External links

{{Commons category
Bugatti 100p Airplane bookBugatti Reproduction websiteNews Story on loss of the reproduction aircraft (YouTube)
Bugatti aircraft Aircraft with contra-rotating propellers 1930s French aircraft Low-wing aircraft Twin-engined tractor aircraft V-tail aircraft Mid-engined aircraft