The Esnault-Pelterie R.E.P. 1 was an 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 K ...

. It was historically significant as 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. Also known as the control column, it is the principal control devic ...

as its main flight control.

Design and development

The REP 1 was a single-seat

tractor configuration In aviation, a tractor configuration is a propeller-driven fixed-wing aircraft with its engine mounted with the propeller in front, so that the aircraft is "pulled" through the air. This is the usual configuration; the pusher configuration ...

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 wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

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 language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

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 (American English) or lift (Commonwealth English) is a machine that vertically transports people or freight between levels. They are typically powered by electric motors that drive traction cables and counterweight systems suc ...

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 or kite. 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 opposit ...

. 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 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 (; English: 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 preser ...

in Paris.

Specifications

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 with fixed conventional landing gear