Gramaticescu

   This odd monoplane was designed by George Gramaticescu, a Rumanian. Unfortunately he died of pulmonary tuberculosis before the machine could be built, and his mother Emilia undertook to have it built by a French team led by the pilot Maurice Herbster in France. The first - and only - machine was completed and flown on 30 April 1914 at La Vidamee. A second machine was planned, but the correspondence about it is incomplete, and its fate is so far unknown.
   The streamlined fuselage was covered, and the undercarriage resembled that of a Morane. The wings were of surprisingly wide chord, more than 2 m, and the front half of the airfoil was twice as thick as the trailing section, resulting in a pronounced step in the lower surface. But as originally designed, there was to have been a second full-span wing of slightly shorter chord fitted just behind and below the main wing, leaving a slot between them.

   (Span: 8.5 m; length: 7 m; wing area: 25 sqm; 50 hp Anzani)