into
line with the Wrights and adopted the warping system. The main features
of the design of Esnault-Pelterie's monoplane was the inverted dihedral
(or kathedral as this was called in Mr S. F. Cody's British Army Biplane
of 1907) on the wings, whereby the tips were considerably lower than
the roots at the body. This was designed to give automatic lateral
stability, but, here again, conventional practice was soon adopted and
the R.E.P. monoplanes, which became well-known in this country through
their adoption in the early days by Messrs Vickers, were of the ordinary
monoplane design, consisting of a tractor propeller with wire-stayed
wings, the pilot being in an enclosed fuselage containing the engine in
front and carrying at its rear extremity fixed horizontal and vertical
surfaces combined with movable elevators and rudder. Constructionally,
the R.E.P. monoplane was of extreme interest as the body was constructed
of steel. The Antoinette monoplane, so ably flown by Latham, was another
very famous machine of the 1909-1910 period, though its performance were
frequently marred by engine failure; which was indeed the bugbear of all
these early experimenters, and it is difficult to say, after this lapse
of time, how far in many cases the failures which occurred, both in
performances and even in the actual ability to rise from the ground,
were due to defects in design or merely faults in the primitive engines
available. The Antoinette aroused admiration chiefly through its
graceful, birdlike lines, which have probably never been equalled; but
its chief interest for our present purpose lies in the novel method of
wing-staying which was employed. Contemporary monoplanes practically
all had their wings stayed by wires to a post in the centre above the
fuselage, and, usually, to the undercarriage below. In the Antoinette,
however, a king post was introduced half-way along the wing, from which
wires were carried to the ends of the wings and the body. This
was intended to give increased strength and permitted of a greater
wing-spread and consequently improved aspect ratio. The same system of
construction was adopted in the British Martinsyde monoplanes of two or
three years later.

This period also saw the production of the first triplane, which was
built by A. V. Roe in England and was fitted with a J.A.P. engine of
only 9 horse-power--an amazing performance which remains to this day
unequalled. Mr Roe's triplane was chiefly in