1911monoplane

Grade, Hans, 1911 Monoplane

from SDASM Archives

• Kees Kort said:

  The picture shows Hans Grade flying his own design on 30 October 1909 at Johannisthal (Berlin). The occasion was the competition for the Lanz prize. A figure of eight had to be flown between two towers which were 1000 meter apart. Grade clocked a time of 2 minutes 43 seconds, which won him the prize of 40 000 Mark. The machine he used was his second design, construction of which started June 1909. Span 10,2 meter, 120 kg weight without fuel (!) and fitted with a 4-cylinder air cooled engine delivering 24 hp at start and 16 hp in flight. The machine was named the 'Libelle'. Although identification of machines from the early times are sketchy, I would suggest this is the Grade Libelle monoplane (24hp / 16hp engine, June 1909).