Not sure how many Demoiselles they built for the film, with most other aircraft they built 2 or 3, with only one of flyable and the rest for ground sequences.
As OzMatt said, they had to make many modifications for the flying replica. The bamboo fuselage was replaced with steel tubing welded together, and the wings were extended about 1ft each side. The flight control system was also changed. Originally the rudder was controlled by a wheel to the left of the pilot. The wheel would be moved forwards or backwards for left and right rudder, always a good idea to remember which way you are suppost to move it as it is not instinctive like most controls. The elevator is controlled by a stick to the right of the pilot, that again moves fwd and back. The wingwarping is ‘controlled’ by a stick that that runs up a sleeve in the back of the pilots overalls, and the pilot would lean either side to move it. For the replica it was an ordinary stick in front of the pilot for the elevators and ailerons (instead of wingwarping), and standard rudder pedals. The engine they used was a 30hp Ardam (Volkswagen) engine, and was later replaced with a 50hp Ardam to give more power. I think the original engine was a 30hp Darracq twin which ran at about 1500rpm.
I think there are two taxiable replicas about, one in America, possibly Old Rhineback but I am not sure, and one at Brooklands Museum which I happen to be involved with. The one at Brooklands is an accurate replica, with the bamboo and original type flying controls, hence the fact that it will never be allowed to fly. It is powered by a 40hp Daf car engine (heavily modified with Volkswagen cylinders). I believe this power will be enough to make it fly adequately, it certainly feels like it, but I am not brave enough to try it.
The last point is that if you are thinking of flying one, for the replica in the film they had to find a pilot weighing under 8 stone, neither Doug Bianchi or Allen Wheeler could get the aircraft to ‘unstick’, so the flying was done by Joan Hughes. Santos-Dumont was short (or vertically challenged to be politically correct), think about 5 ft. I am about 6ft and when I sit in the one at Brooklands I have to lean forwards to stop my head hitting the wing, and I am pretty wedged in their between two diagonal supports, there would be no way I could work the wingwarping. If you fit the dimensions above and do one day decide to build a flying one then good luck. A good book to read if you haven’t already is “Building Aeroplanes for Those Magnificent Men” by Allen Wheeler, which gives a lot of info on the Demoiselle.
Steve
The photo, if it comes out, is of me running the one at Brooklands last year.
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