Bugatti 100P - The Most Beautiful Aircraft You've Never Heard Of

It's the 1930s, before the outbreak of World War II, and Etori Bugatti has shown the world that he can build fast cars. In fact, his cars were not only fast but among the fastest, winning more than 200 races in the 1920s and 1930s, but now Atori set his sights higher and began toying with the idea of ​​developing an airplane for take the world landplane speed record then held by Howard Hughes in the Hughes H-1 corridor at a speed of 352 miles per hour. The resulting

aircraft

was designed together with Bugatti's chief engineer, Louis. Dumange would be called

100p

and it would be the

most

successful

beautiful

plane you've

never

heard

of, so without further ado, let's delve into the fascinating tale of how this plane was initially designed and eventually replicated, but was ultimately fatally lost and

never

reached its full potential. potential. but before we move on to

100p

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War Thunder has over 2000 tanks, planes, helicopters and ships ready for you to take into combat and this is not just surface level preview models, the individual components of each vehicle are modeled, allowing you to take the things to the level of full simulation realism if you choose. My personal favorite is this completely real simulator level battle and the best part is that, unlike some of my other favorite simulators. War Thunder's Arena style of play avoids hours of flying around a huge war front looking for a fight, instead the fights tend to play out more like Gladiator matches, as we all know, most flight Sims They have low player numbers due to the huge upfront costs of flight sticks and other equipment, but thousands of players are now playing War Thunder with nothing more than a mouse and keyboard, so that's no longer an issue, so So join the battle and play War Thunder today and if you do, don't forget to use my link below. to access a huge free bonus pack including multiple premium vehicles, premium account boosters and more Before Bugatti and his chief engineer Louis Dimange could finish their design, the Germans would capture the airspeed record from Howard Hughes on November 11, 1939.

A BF-109 flying at 379 miles per hour, demonstrating Germany's dominance in the design and development of

aircraft

for Bugatti; However, his dislike of the German Nazi Party would further push him to design an aircraft capable of stealing the record. Work began immediately and the resulting design was an absolutely

beautiful

piece. In engineering, the aircraft was 25 feet 5 inches long, equivalent to 7.75 meters with a completely smooth fuselage instead of being constructed of aluminum, the 100p was composed of sandwich layers of balsa wood glued together and carved at critical fixation points. Hardwood rails and supports were attached. on the Balsa in areas such as the engine mounts and canopy attachment points when the Balsa fuselage was completed, the final product would be covered with strips of tulip wood sanded and filed and then covered with linen and doped.

The final design weighed just 3,086 pounds or 1,400 kilograms, which is almost a thousand pounds lighter than an MTBF-109 of the same era. The wingspan of the 100p was 27 feet or 8.2 meters and featured a now unusual forward sweep that attached the wing to the fuselage. It was a single box. built in the same way as the fuselage and also as it housed the fully retractable and enclosed main landing gear. Interestingly, the wing also featured a self-adjusting flap system in this system, both the upper and lower surfaces of the flaps automatically moved up or down to adapt to speed. of the airplane at engine power settings at high manifold pressure and very low airspeed, the flaps were placed in a takeoff position at low airspeed and low power, the flaps dropped to the landing position and the gear landing was lowered automatically in a dive the flaps were separated to form air brakes the tail surfaces also featured some innovative features instead of a more conventional tail the 100p used three surfaces at 120 degree angles these surfaces were made with the same construction method as the rest of the aircraft instead of a tailwheel the lower ventral fin featured a retractable tail skid to cool the air was collected in ducts on the leading edges of the butterfly tail on the ventral fin the air rotated 180 degrees floating into a plenum chamber in the air fuselage and passed through a two-section radiator one section for each engine behind the rear engine, the now heated air rotated again 180 degrees and exited the sides of the fuselage into a low pressure area behind the trailing edge of the wings, the high pressure at the inlet and low pressure at the outlet created air circulation that did not require fans or blowers, this is huge because with this system the radiator is immersed in the plane eliminating much of the drag.

We can see engineers from both Daimler Bends and Rolls-Royce trying to reduce during World War II the heart of the 100p were two Bugatti t50 engines, these eight-cylinder in-line engines were made specifically for the 100p aircraft, maintaining the theme of materials Lightweight, the crankcases of these engines were made of magnesium and each engine used a lightweight Roots-type supercharger feeding two downdraft carburetors. 3.31 inches or 84 millimeters and a stroke of 4.21 inches or 107 millimeters, giving a total displacement of 289 cubic inches. The two overhead camshafts operated two intake and two exhaust valves for each cylinder. The standard t50b race car engine produced 480 horsepower at 5000 RPM, a power output of 450 horsepower at 4500 RPM. 100p was to produce 550 horsepower each with respect to its orientation, the engines were placed in tandem after the pilot, the front engine was canted to the right and drove a shaft passing along the pilot's right side while the rear engine was canted to the left and drove a drive shaft that passed along the pilot's left side.

The two axles were joined in a common reduction gearbox just beyond the pilot's feet. This gearbox allowed each engine to drive a ground-adjustable Routier propeller of two metal blades, the two sets of propellers formed a coaxial contrarotating unit from the gearbox, the rear propeller shaft driven by the engine The design of the 100p was finalized in 1938. Its manufacture began in a premium furniture factory in Paris. Suddenly, war broke out and France did not currently possess any competitive fighters to keep up with Germany's new generation of aircraft despite this dangerous situation. Construction of the 100p still proceeded without interruption in 1939, the French Air Ministry recognizing the 100p's potential to become a light fighter or reconnaissance aircraft and agreeing to a contract with Bugatti.

This plane had to have at least one cannon placed on each wing. An oxygen system for high-altitude flight and a self-sealing fuel tank for added protection against enemy fire, although the specifications of this beautiful work of art remain largely a mystery, it is speculated that it was larger than its predecessor, On the 100p, the aircraft would have featured dual T-50B engines with 525 horsepower each installed side by side in the fuselage which would then drive six-bladed coaxial control rotary propellers. In terms of armament, the initial plan called for a center-firing 37-millimeter cannon, however, considering the 100p's light weight was its secret weapon on the surface.

I think this sounds like a terrible idea, but without getting into a long discussion of projectile ballistics and aerial artillery of the World War II, we'll leave that for another day. Bugatti's contract included a bonus of 1 million francs if the 100p Eraser captured world speed. record which the Germans had now raised to 463 miles per hour with a Heikel he 100 on March 30, 1939 and then raised it again to 469 miles per hour with a Messerschmitt me-209 on April 26 and their initial estimates Bugatti and Damage was felt the 100p was capable of reaching around 500 miles per hour, however the new record caused Bugatti and Dimash to redesign the 100p into the 110p.

A smaller racing version, the 110p featured a 22-foot wingspan instead of the previous 27 feet that the 100p was also to have. The same engines as the 100p, but top speed was now estimated to be 550 miles per hour. However, other sources indicate that these figures were very optimistic and the expected performance was around 400 miles per hour for the 100p and 475 for the 110. The 1rp was almost complete when Germany invaded France as the Germans approached Paris in June 1940, the Bugatti Wonderp and various parts presumably for the 110p were removed from the furniture factory and loaded onto a truck, the Wonderp was taken to the countryside and hidden in a barn on Bugatti's Emeryville Castle estate, 30 miles northeast of Paris, tragically before the 100p project was completed.

Tory Bugatti died on August 21, 1947. The plane was then purchased by M Serge pozole in 1960, but remained in Emeryville until 1970, when it was sold. To Ray Jones, an expert restorer of Bugatti automobiles from the United States, Pazoli and Jones offered the 100 pence to French museums, but were rejected. Jones acquired the 100 pence to complete the plane, however that goal could not be completed due to missing parts. Jones had the two Bugatti t-50 engines removed from the fuselage before everything was shipped to the United States after Jones was unable to complete the project. Dr. Peter Williamson purchased the fuselage and moved it to Vintage Auto Restorations in Ridgefield Connecticut in February 1971 to begin a lengthy restoration.

Less in Don Lefferts worked on the project from 1975 to 1979 and as Louis Damage now lived in the United States, he helped with some aspects of the restoration work before passing away in 1977. In 1979, The Unfinished 100p was donated to the Museum Foundation from the Air Force to Restoration was completed and the aircraft was potentially loaned to a museum for display; However, the aircraft was laid up until '96 when it was donated to the Experimental Aircraft Association in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, where it eventually underwent a complete restoration. Today, the restored but engine-less Bugatti 100p is on display at According to the EAA Air Venture Museum, the original engines of the 100p model were not the final versions of the engines intended for the actual speed record.

Both engines still exist and are installed in Bugatti cars. The front engine is installed in Ray Jones 1937 Type 59.-50b R Grand Prix racer and the rear engine is installed in Charles Dean's version of the same car, so the 100p never flew except when a man named Scotty Wilson built a complete replica in Tulsa Oklahoma instead of restoring the original model, which Scotty agreed was a lot. too valuable to risk the team of what would become a company called rev blue began building a 100p from scratch, unsurprisingly as it turned out the aircraft design proved exceptionally difficult to recreate, however after years of hard work, the resulting aircraft was nearing completion because the original t-50 was impossible to obtain, the team opted to use two Suzuki Hayabusa engines, however, these engines produced significantly less power than the originals, which will be relevant when we analyze the fatal accident that occurred in this replica on its third flight in the initial test.

The flight took place on August 19, 2015 and caused problems centered on these Hayabusa engines because the idle RPM was too high when the airplane attempted to land, the small amount of power delivered by the engines proved almost enough to keep it in ground effect. Because of this, the aircraft used its entire 13,000-foot runway and then had to brake hard after landing. Subsequently, the right brake was not installed correctly and failed, causing the aircraft to veer off the runway into soft grass and damaging the propellers and the other pertinent problem was the chain drive system that the replica employed on a box.

Typical shifting at high RPM. The chain drive tended to skip teeth, limiting the power of already anemic engines, while the Rev Blue team knew that developing a gearboxright was the optimal solution, Scotty. Wilson ran out of funds and opted to continue network broadcasting. The solution they went with ended up being the addition of a radial arm to reduce motor movement and a chain tensioner to keep the chain tight since motor movement was causing slippage. its flexible mounting towards the laying shaft during loading which loosened the chain the second flight was less eventful than the first but was not without problems the problems with the new chain apparatus had arisen only the previous day and Scotty had driven the entire night before the day flight to pick up a new adapter in Tulsa despite this, however, the flight which consisted of a simple circuit around the airfield was successful or continued the project through the fall, winter and spring, the ultimate goal of the plane was to find a home for the project in a museum while recouping the investments Scotty had made in the project.

On the third flight, the plane was to be filmed by a professional crew in a Chase helicopter so it would look better on display for a possible museum at this point. Scotty's behavior. about the additional flights the plane had now changed between the second and third flights on the Friday night before the third flight took place, Scotty's friends and family noticed that he was not his usual self and seemed stressed and thoughtful to despite telling everyone that it was pretty good. His plans for the plane had recently changed from a few more flights to just one more flight, plus he had recently made plans to sell the engines upon completing the third flight so the plane could never fly again on Saturday morning 6 Scotty changed the plane's flight plan and opted to complete only a figure-eight pattern instead of the planned series, plus he did not come out to greet the crowd that had gathered to watch.

The flight in its usual form around 8.15 a.m., one of the team members was helping Scotty to strap into the cockpit and said to Scotty: "I'm so jealous of you for that", Scotty replied with a somber expression: no be at 8.20 a.m. On August 16, the helicopter took off from its position and Scotty began its takeoff function, landing gear retraction shortly after breaking ground went smoothly, but team members gathered at the airfield later commented that the The engines sounded strange, and the plane seemed to climb more slowly than usual. approached the end of the runway was flying relatively low at an altitude that was estimated to be around 80 or 100 feet engine noise and the RPM was

heard

to increase sharply and then fade away the airplane began to turn to the right stabilized again and It then turned to the left, the bank angle increasing until the plane turned on its back and fell to the ground just beyond the fence towards the north side of the airport, the wreckage of the plane was almost completely destroyed by the fire that followed. to the impact of the subsequent accident.

The investigation found that pilot error was the cause of the accident; However, as in most aviation accidents, the tide was stacked against Scotty, essentially due to a combination of factors: Scotty's environment at the time of the ax influenced him to continue attempting to troubleshoot an aircraft that should Having been brought to a powerless landing in a bean field, the situation with the 100p's power plants was not ideal during the third flight, the clutch began to slip on the front engine, causing the RPM to increase and the power dropped considerably simultaneously. The rear motor had limited power due to Scotty's fear that the chain would come off and render the rear motor inoperable.

This, coupled with the fact that Scotty likely had an emotional attachment to the aircraft, causing him to continue troubleshooting the engine until it was well below the maximum approved angle of attack put him in a situation where he had enough power to trick him into continuing instead of realizing if the crash landing was inevitable; Furthermore, in the event of a stall occurring, it was well established at the time that the aerodynamic peculiarities of the fuselage were such that the aircraft would stop first on the wingtips due to forward sweep. Due to this, the fuselage would almost always enter in an unrecoverable turn but, in short, they expected a loss to be fatal and it turned out that it was the final report prepared by his team goes into detail about why more ground tests and more technical data on the entire chain and the clutch slip, so if you are interested, I will leave the link in the description after reviewing the data myself.

What caught my attention was Scotty's lack of respect for standard safety equipment, usually a Nomex suit and helmet are standard when looking at contemporary flight test pilots; However, if we review some of the footage of Scotty in flight, we can see that he typically wore a polo shirt and no helmet because the final cause of death was proven to be head trauma. I wonder if he would have survived if he had been wearing the proper equipment, at least putting aside all other problems, in any case this accident was a tragedy for the community and for the Scotty's Friends team members and family even more so because The replica was never equipped with the proper engines, leading us to wonder if it could reach the speeds that Etori and Daños had set out to achieve; however, considering the BF-109e was almost 1,000 pounds heavier than the 100p and had almost the same total intended power.

I think it might have been possible for the 100p to have been a record breaking aircraft again. We would like to thank this video as a sponsor. War Thunder does not. Forget about trying this fantastic game if you have never tried online air combat games. This is the perfect first game to try. Also, don't forget to use our Link at play wt.link Flight Dojo to unlock all the gifts.