Du Temple Monoplane

Monoplane
The Du Temple Monoplane.
Role
National origin	France
Manufacturer	Félix du Temple
First flight	1874
Number built	1

The du Temple Monoplane was a large aeroplane made of aluminium, built in Brest, France, by naval officer Félix du Temple in 1874.

It had a wingspan of 13 m (43 ft) and weighed of only 80 kg (180 lb) without the pilot.

Several trials were made with the aircraft, and it is generally recognized that it achieved lift-off - described by Dollfus as "short hop or leap" and in Flight International as "staggered briefly into the air" - (from a combination of its own power and running down an inclined ramp), glided for a short time and returned safely to the ground, making it the first successful powered flight in history though not the first self-powered one.

It was displayed at the 1878 Exposition Universelle ("World Fair") in Paris.

The aircraft used a very compact, high-speed circulation steam engine for which Félix du Temple applied for a patent on 28 April 1876. The engine used very small pipes packed together "to obtain the highest possible contact surface for the smallest possible volume"

This type of boiler, which boils the water instantly, has come to be known as a flash boiler. The engine design was later adopted by the French Navy for the propulsion of the first French torpedo boats:

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