REP Type D
The REP Type D was a sport aircraft designed and produced in France by Robert Esnault-Pelterie, beginning in 1910. Unlike his first designs, it was of conventional configuration, one of a family of related aircraft he produced around this time.
Design
The two-seat Type D was very similar to the single-seat Type B built slightly earlier. It was a conventional, shoulder-wing monoplane which seated the pilot and a single passenger in tandem in an open cockpit. It had conventional tailskid undercarriage and was powered by a piston engine in the nose driving a tractor propeller. Lateral control was via wing-warping and the aircraft had dual controls. Unusually for the day, the fuselage and tail structure was of steel tube. The wing structure was wooden, and the entire aircraft was covered in fabric. The fuselage of some, but not all, had a diamond-, or lozenge-, shaped cross-section, while others shared the triangular cross-section of the Type B.Operational history
In December 1910, Type Ds set speed records for an aircraft carrying a passenger over and. Another placed fifth in the 1911 Circuit of Europe in June the following year, but was the only monoplane to finish the entire course.A Type D was exhibited at the 1911 Paris Aero Show.
One example, construction number 24 without its fabric covers, is preserved at the in Paris.