About This File
FS98 Santos Dumont Demoiselle 1908. The first aircraft to be built for sporting purposes, and the first ultra-light aircraft in history, built by the Brazilian engineer Santos Dumont, with a gross weight of 314 lb. It was a single-seater, high-wing monolane, powered by a 35 hp, 2-cylinder Darracq engine mounted on the leading edge of the wing, capable of speeds of 50 kt. Lateral control was achieved by wing-warping, and tailplane and rudder were a combined unit, moving on both axes. The Demoiselle was a simple, very successful design, the world´s first series production aircraft. Several flyable replicas were built by Personal Plane Services Ltd for the 1965 film 'Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines', and others have been built since then. By Stephan Scholz.