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The Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplanes were a series of single-engined monoplane aircraft built by Vickers prior to the outbreak of the First World War. They were developed from a French design for which Vickers had purchased a license, with eight being built. ==Design and development== On 1 January 1911〔''Flight'' 15 April 1911, p.336.〕 Vickers, Sons and Maxim (which would be renamed Vickers Limited later that year), entered into a license agreement to build aircraft and aero-engines designed by the Frenchman Robert Esnault-Pelterie (hence R.E.P.), and sell them in Britain and its Empire.〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 1.〕 Following the agreement, Vickers purchased a French built R.E.P. monoplane to use as a demonstrator together with a R.E.P. built rear fuselage.〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 2.〕 The design was redrawn from metric to imperial measurements by Vickers, while the first example was built at the Vickers factory at Erith, Kent (now part of Greater London), using the French built rear fuselage and a French built engine, but was otherwise the rest of the components were Vickers built. It made its maiden flight from Vickers' new airfield at Joyce Green, near Dartford in July 1911, piloted by Captain Herbert F. Wood, manager of Vickers' aviation department.〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, p. 35.〕 The aircraft was a shoulder-winged monoplane, with a deep but narrow fuselage of fabric covered steel-tube construction, accommodating two people in tandem. A single five-cylinder air-cooled R.E.P. "fan" (or "semi-radial") engine rated at 60 horsepower (45 kW) driving a two-bladed propeller was fitted in the aircraft's nose, while the aircraft had a conventional landing gear, with both wheels and skids. The wings were of wood and steel construction, with lateral control by wing-warping, with the pilot operating a joystick.〔''Flight'' 26 August 1911, pp. 734–736.〕〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, p.36.〕 The first five monoplanes were basically similar, and were powered by R.E.P engines, with the fifth one having a deeper fuselage. The sixth aircraft, built for the 1912 British Military Aeroplane Competition was noticeably different, with side-by-side seating for its two crew, a shorter wingspan (35 ft (10.67 m) rather than 47 ft 6 in (14.5 m) for the earlier aircraft), while a 70 hp (52 kW) Viale radial engine was fitted.〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 36–37.〕〔''Flight'' 24 August 1912, pp. 774–775.〕 The seventh aircraft reverted to the tandem layout and longer wingspan of the first five aircraft, but replaced the R.E.P. engine with a 100 hp (75 kW) Gnome rotary engine, while the eighth, and final example, was similar to the sixth aircraft, with a 70–80 hp Gnome rotary.〔Andrews and Morgan 1988, pp. 38–39.〕〔''Flight'' 22 February 1913, pp. 223–224.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Vickers R.E.P. Type Monoplane」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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