Scratch-built 1/72 Deperdussin 1912 Gordon Bennett Race winner

From the archives (2010)

There are plenty of cases of plane designs that were way ahead of their time in one regard or another. There are very few, though, that were at the same time innovative and successful.

Designed by Louis Bechereau, the French Deperdussin Monocoque (for single, whole shell) of 1912 was so advanced for its time, that one can’t but be puzzled looking a contemporary planes; or even at later designs. Not only had the trademark “monocoque” fuselage –where the skin bears the loads-, but was also a monoplane with a carefully cowled engine. Instead of ailerons it used wing warping for lateral control.

It swept the Chicago 1912 Gordon Bennett taking first and second place (Vedrines and Prevost respectively). Then –on floats- won the Schneider Trophy and it did the same at the Reims1913 edition of the Gordon Bennett again, leaving all other competitors eating dust.

The Deperdussin was also the first plane to break the 100 mph barrier.

The design, as it is sometimes the case with many other wonderful things, went almost unnoticed and the unwashed aviation designer masses kept insisting on biplanes, uncowled engines and other contraptions for decades after. Go figure. Both “monocoque” construction and monoplane design are a staple of today’s aviation.

I was making this model for a fellow enthusiast and soon we realized that there was some confusion in the depiction of this specific machine. It took a very hefty amount of research to get things right with this little fellow. There are so many misidentifications of the Deperdussin machines, even in prominent sites and publications, that I was indeed surprised. Carefully going through era magazines and newspapers started to shed some light and brought up a number of details used to tell one machine from another. The model you see here is indeed a representation of the Vedrines machine. The one that took 2^nd, the Prevost machine, is different in some very noticeable details, among them engine, cabane, headrest, cowling, spinner and wing platform. Both also differ from previous machines and from the ones used later in Reims.

Painstaking research even brought up the fact that Vedrines used to decorate the side of his mount with an image of the Mona Lisa, which I replicated. A flag is seen on the rudder on some photos, so I made decals for that too.

Modeling-wise it seemed to be a fairly simple affair, but as usual it was not. A fuselage was carved in wood in order to get the vac copies with the Mattel Psychedelic Device. Three changes on the wood plug were necessary until a practical arrangement was reached, consisting of separating the nose. Later, in order to mount it –the top is flush with the fuselage but the bottom is bigger leaving an opening to vent the engine cooling air- a circle was made on styrene sheet, cut at 1/3 of its diameter and these parts affixed to fuselage and cowl (see images). The cowl also sports some circular vents. All flying surfaces as customary were made of styrene sheet. Control horns were fashioned from a discarded aluminum lid. After-market (although in this case there was no “market” before) white metal engine and prop were utilized. An interior was also created and decals represented the instruments. For the cabane struts brass material was used. Rigging involved the usual wing wires and the control cables for the tail surfaces.

Once painting in the light cigar hue was completed the parts were put together allowing the engine to be inserted between the cowl and fuselage firewall. Rigging and decaling ensued and the “modern” shape of this remarkable racer could be truly appreciated.

In those times, France was the clear leader on the aviation field. No wonder F.A.I. stands for Fédération Aéronautique Internationale.