02/28/2016. Remarks by Kees Kort: "Engineer Robert Esnault-Pelterie (1881-1957) was an early French aviation pioneer. He started in 1904 with experiments with a glider and built his first powered monoplane in 1907. This type had a special landing gear with two wheels in tandem under the enclosed fuselage. Single bicycle wheels were mounted at the wing tips to prevent the wings from scraping over the ground when taking off or landing. This design was further developed, but eventually around 1909 Esnault-Pelterie changed his monoplane to a more conventional design featuring a two wheel landing gear.

The firm founded by Esnault-Pelterie ended its activities around 1914-1915, and the archives of the firm have most likely been lost, hence there is considerable difference in opinion about the identification of the many more or less different monoplane designs of the firm. What is known is that the firm identified its designs with the letters R.E.P. (Robert Esnault Pelterie), but no original list seems to have survived and experts differ in this matter.

The contemporary picture above shows a late version of a tandem seat monoplane powered by a rotary engine, probably a Gnome rotary, and according to the French early aviation specialist Albin Denis it is a R.E.P. Type N. Note the use of personnel as a brake, as the aircraft had none, to run-up the engine, the pilot signaled to let go when he wanted to take off."