Everyone knows about the sucessful and now incredibly valuable cars built by Ettore Bugatti, but only diehard enthusiasts know that Bugatti was also an airplane designer. The only plane he designed and built (in 1938) never flew and was stored in a barn in France until the '60s, and after being rediscovered was stripped of its two Bugatti engines, which went into restored cars.
As one would suspect, the Bugatti 100p was startlingly original, having two engines located in the fuselage behind the pilot, each driving one of the two counter-rotating propellers via driveshafts that passed under the pilot's elbows!
The original plane's engineless shell, now restored, is on display at the EAA AirVenture Museum in Oshkosh, WI, where "attracts the most interest – and is the source of more inquiries – than any other exhibit."
But the story of the Bugatti plane is not yet over. A dedicated group of Bugatti enthusiasts is well on the way to re-creating the Bugatti 100p as a functional aircraft.
Learn the entire story and check out the progress that's been made so far at the Reve Bleu WEBSITE.
