Santos-Dumont Demoiselle
| Demoiselle | |
|---|---|
| Type 20 Demoiselle | |
| General information | |
| Type | Experimental aircraft |
| National origin | France |
| Manufacturer | Clément-Bayard Darracq |
| Designer | |
| History | |
| First flight | 1907 |
The Santos-Dumont Demoiselle is a series of aircraft built in France by the Brazilian aviation pioneer Alberto Santos-Dumont. The tiny, quick, primitive airplanes -- the first successful "sport aircraft" -- were the first practical light aircraft. The Demoiselles were the most affordable airplane by 1912, and were widely copied across Europe and the United States, a principal force in the development of sport aviation
The Demoiselles were light-weight monoplanes with a wire-braced wing mounted above an open-framework fuselage built from bamboo. The pilot's seat was below the wing and between the main wheels of the undercarriage. The rear end of the boom carried a tailwheel and a cruciform tail.
The name Demoiselle is a contraction of mademoiselle and is a synonym for "jeune fille"—young girl or woman—but also the common name in French for a Damselfly (something that the tiny plane, with its translucent, silk-covered wings, resembled).