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.