Bugatti 100P - The Most Beautiful Aircraft You've Never Heard Of 

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That race car mechanic using a spit protected fingertip to check that each cylinder is firing…☺️

Thank you for sharing this video. Scotty Wilson was a friend of mine. I was the fourth person he told about his vision for the project over lunch in early 2008. As an aeronautical engineer, I joined Le Revé Bleu and worked alongside Scotty and some amazing people. It was such a tragic loss when the plane crashed.

I followed the build of the replica and it was awful when it crashed. I never heard the full story of what happened until now.

That chain drive was obviously sketchy just by looking at it. They really should have come up with a proper gearbox for that thing.

Don't get it twisted, the Hayabusa engine is a great engine, in a motorcycle.

Thank god for channels like this. There are so many interesting little parts of history and beautiful, cool things i would miss without these videos

Buddy of mine built an RV-3, a hot little monoplane kit plane. He was both a certified aircraft mechanic and commercial pilot and flew the plane a fair bit before deciding to sell it. At the time I was a commercial pilot with about 800 hrs. When I expressed interest in it he told me to just fire it up and taxi it around a bit to get a feel for it. I did and came away with the eerie feeling that that airplane might kill me, so I thanked him for letting me taxi it and said I'd think about it. A few years later it killed him when a wing come off during a high-speed pull-out. Moral: If your sixth sense is telling you something, listen to it. Those Suzuki engines are highly reliable, but they're designed for motorcycles, not airplanes. They've got very light crankshafts, make their peak power around 10,000rpm or more and are certainly not designed for that output to be continuous. Chain drive?....... All very sad.

Thank you for providing such detailed and extensive research for all of the aviation community! Truly remarkable

Theres strong evidence that the Bugatti DOHC I8 design was largely stolen from Miller, who had a pair of racecars disappear in France in the 20s, which were later found under the floor of a Bugatti factory in the 1960s if I recall correctly. The story is covered in the book "The golden age of the American racing car" a book about interwar racing in the USA and a wonderful read

What an elegant design! The cooling system is genius. I wonder why it never caught on.

This takes the phrase "what color is your Bugatti" to a whole nother level

You give bore and stroke in inches an mm but then give the capacity in cu/in. Thanks, I now have to look it up!

Imagine if this had been implemented with a push/pull configuration like the DO 335 pfiel (I think it was the 335?)…it would’ve at least looked really F’n fast!

I hope somebody tries again. It's too beautiful to just be forgotten

The photos and video of the engine set up in the replica was pretty revealing. No wonder Scotty was so pessimistic going into his last flight.

One of the most beautiful planes

There was my name, with many others, in the cockpit of the replica, as one of the donators who helped the project. What a sad ending of that marvelous story of passionate peoples dedicating their time to make it fly again (or for once !) :(

WOW! As a automotive nut I’ve got several Bugatti collectable models. I had ever heard of this machine or of the reproduction flights. Thank you for this very informative video.

I read about this beauty in Air progress I think, long ago. A replica was built but crashed right off relatively recently.

I met Ray Jones through correspondence about a decade ago. Back in the '70s when I was in high school, a friend took me over to a neighbor's house where I was given a clandestine tour of the huge underground garage that was full of Stampe biplanes and Bugatti cars. I didn't know the neighbor's name and I only visited once, but I never forgot what I saw. I moved away after high school; when I moved back to the area 32 years later I discovered the hose and huge garage were both gone. Some internet digging put me in touch with Jaap Horst, a Bugatti documentarian from the Netherlands who knew Ray and shared my story with him. A few days later I received a letter from Ray and in subsequent conversations he told me the backstory on the biplanes and Bugattis as well as the story of bringing the 100P to America. As an EAA member, I was thrilled to hear it was in the EAA museum and visit it often. Through Jaap Horst's Pegasus newsletter I followed the creation of the replica by Scotty Wilson. I was gutted when both Scotty and the aircraft were lost. We'll probably never know what that design could have achieved.

What a tragic ending to what could've been a magnificent proof of concept. Really cool video!

I remember when that crash happened. I was such a fan of the 100p and glad someone built a sexy plane. Just tragic.

4:54 Number 11 on the drawing sure looks like a fan. Extremely rare bird.....thanks.

This thing is a masterpiece

It really hurt my heart when I heard about the crash.

That man knew he was going to die. And for whatever reason he chose to do it. That makes him probably one of the bravest people I've ever heard of. The way he was acting before that last flight like the plans that he had made to sell the engines. The fact that he was acting kind of depressed and a little weirded out and he didn't greet the crowd and what not. He knew that that plane was going to kill him. And he didn't want anybody else to ever do this again after that third flight. And he knew he shouldn't go through with that third flight. But he did it anyway knowing the consequences

Holy Cow! OMG! So tech and style beautiful!

That was a well done video on a hidden portion of aviation history. Thank you on behalf of all the community. I subscribed.

This is one of my favourite aircraft designs, although I remember writing to Scotty with a concern about risk of side slip due to the forward sweep like the issues highlighted at 15.31. He built an incredible machine, I hope his family are ok. Ettore and Louis would be proud I think. Ultimately, it is a fantastic sculpture. The documentary is fantastic and I can attest, 100% accurate.

Air Progress magazine covered the original Bugatti with a decent article and some photos in the early '70s which is when I first learned of it. Several radio control builders made sort-of scale models for a racing class using .15cu.in. sized nitro engines back in the day also. I'd say that without some washout in the wing design, it would have some nasty quirks and too dangerous. The beauty of the airplane is without question and, together with a replica of the Hughes H1 also crashing, killing it's builder and pilot, two amazing airplanes of the period are now likely never to be seen flying again.

thanks and like you said I never heard of this fantastic lil aircraft. truly a work of flying art 🛩

MASSIVE THANK YOU ""Monsieur Scotty Wilson" and R.I.P., because you have make Bugatti 100P to born and you give the line to fly IT. I hope that the "100P" will fly again after fixing what give the crash???? .☝👍👍👍👍👍(Hope that my words are right?🤔) Thank you F.D. for this vidéo.👏👏👏

in my teens i had the opportunity to spend some of my summer at the eaa young eagles, which used the eaa museum for several activates and seeing this beautiful aircraft was a must every time we entered the building

This plane was sort of the Douglas X-3 Stiletto of it's time. It's a shame we don't know more about it's original testing. I'm curious about the harmonic vibrations that would have been transmitted back and forth through those dual drive shafts, and the degree to which they knew of this airplane's vicious stall/spin characteristics? The cooling system was clever and ingenious, but may have had limitations if attempts were made to scale it up for more powerful engines. Anyways tough for the replica pilot. These types of planes should be tested out in the desert flats where you have options on engine failure, and also, there's a reason test pilots wear helmets and fire-retardant suits.

I never heard of this aircraft until today. Very impressive video. TY for your content! o7!

Lmao, gotta love how you got sponsored by the game that's been made infamous from classified documents being leaked on its forums. Anyway, this was a really good video! Always glad to see someone talk about this plane!

4:04 Lord God damn... what are the signatures of the axes? Didn't Bugatti know the main rule for constructing any graph?

Smooth plane

Your videos absolutely never disappoint.

The best video I have seen on this remarkable aircraft!

Scottie was begging for an accident by the looks of it?

Motorcycle engines? Sounds like a crazy idea.

Fantastic research and explanations!

Forward swept wings and a triangle tail. Impressive aircraft. What a awsome French fighter. Would like to see a modern Bugatti fighter jet.

An awesome plane to welcome back an awesome guy!

I only ever saw the image of this Plane Once ; and I have always wanted to know more about it, Thank you soo much

Excellent stuff bro

Bugatti was a great French company not only making the first small sports cars for handling and performance but also the fastest autorail trains of the SNCF reaching 200 km/h powered by their famous engines back in the thirties. They were also powering fast ships as well.

This was very interesting. Initially I thought it might be a modern myth, because the story sounded so similar to the Dusenberg Coupe Simone, but now I'm thinking the story-maker took inspiration from this story. It's a story fit for a movie.

The gentleman picking his finger and checking each exhaust pipe.

I just saw it on Saturday. What a machine.

Thank you for not using the accident as click bait!

I've built a 1/72 model from Sharkit. Really beautiful!

I love this plane! For decades!

Great video thanks.

I though I knew a little bit about aviation history … but this is the first time I hear of a Bugatti record breaking plane … what a beauty !!! I‘m stoked ! someone should try and build it again … it‘s such a beautiful aircraft … really

Someone needs to re-release an updated version with modern materials

12:04 From the moment I saw in the chain tensioner illustration the word "hoseclamp" I had reservations. •#1 hose clamp is 2 words, not 1 •#2 intentionally using hose clamps in a component that is small in size yet huge in importance in an airplane designed by Ettore Bugatti himself gives me zero confidence in the success of this copy/imposter of this Bugatti model 100P aeroplane.

beautiful and clever - the perfect combination

Wow what a masterpiece of design and engineering!!! So inspiring, this piece touches me deeply, and with more than a little sadness, that this artistic oeuvre and engineering marvel died in obscurity when it should have thrived and gone into production and inspired generations of successors. I should be happy but I feel like crying 😢

The speed world record was established the 26 of April 1939 with the Messerschmidt ME 209 with a speed of 755,14 Km/h unbated till the 60´s with the Grumman Bearcat.

I'm surprised they didn't fly off from Harvey Young Airport. When I was in the CAP, I remember WWII planes either being restored or replicated for flight. I flew in the yellow AT-6 Texan in 84, piloted by an older gentleman.

Wonderful video. I watched the process of the replica being built through Sport Aviation magazine. The original is at the EAA Museum, Airventure is strictly the name of the EAA convention held in Oshkosh in July, not the name of the museum. I knew it crashed but never heard the full story.

Thank you for this video. 🙏 Your latest subscriber.

As the original engines were not available, their best option would have been a Mazda rotary engine. Rotary engines are smaller, light weight, have stable torque across the power band, have fewer moving parts and can replicate the needed HP of the original engines.

A sad story in many ways. Thankyou for an interesting video

"Never heard of"??? This guy needs to know his audience better! Of course us Aero-nerds know about this beauty!!

@5:50 somebody call Helf and Safety , that man has no mask !

Forward sweeping of wings will always be an issue without computer assistance. If the original design was trying to design-out some of the issues with transonic flight with the forward swept wings, Ettore Bugatti would clearly have the idea of supersonic flight on his mind. In the 1930s it was already known a "devil lived above 800kph"; a devil responsible for rendering uncontrollable otherwise stable aircraft once they were in a dive. High speed stalls were common. We shall likely never know if this was Bugatti's intent. One thing for which to forever be thankful is Bugatti hiding the aircraft from the advancing German army; a future never realised may have been much worse than the future in which we now live.

Very tecnigal Deep, logical clever and intelligible and pedagogical thanks very good video. I had subcribed now With black bell.

Remember the actual rebuild, and the tentative first few flights,, such a beautiful aeroplane,,, such sadness when the crash and the loss of its aviator Scotty

Always thought this shape would make a good light jet. Another notion would be to replicate it with the contraprops, but powered by present day Bugatti car engines (actually a single one would doubtless be sufficient). It is good that the original airframe survived against the odds.

I have never ever heard anyone ever call the hayabusa “anemic “ this was the wrong choice of powerunit,not the engine’s fault I’m afraid.

If I learned anything from Junkyard Wars/Scrapheap Challenge and J.G. Parry-Thomas, it is that chain drives are for bikes.

I remember Scotty's accident. I emailed him about that plane and pointed out a few things I was uncomfortable with and he went ahead anyway. He wrote me back but I could see he wasn't concerned about it. He must have known it had other issues as well, since he had planned not to fly it anymore after that last ill-fated flight. I'm a high performance plane builder myself. But a proven design.

Who knew France almost had the most badass-looking fighter of wwii?

Well written and presented.

Great history 👍

Airplanes with engines with clutches seems like a bad idea. was it running with gearboxes?

13:17 ~ Jarring!

Fascinating.

great video as usual! this is sad man, it boggles my mind the shortcuts and hacks people will do when their life is on the line. this isn't duct tape on a riding lawn mower or even your farm truck, these guys half assed some significant critical engine issues and they knew it. I don't know about you but if my chain was jumping off like that on my quad or my rice rocket i wouldn't be riding it. From how his manner / attitude was described leading up to the 3rd flight some might say this was suicide. Guy sounded like he displayed many signs , change in mood, behavior, changed his usual routine, didn't take safety precautions. maybe the guy was upset he put so much money in and knew he wouldn't recoup or he couldn't deal with the failure? wonder what his life insurance policy was like> did he renew it that week!!

Of course I’ve heard of it before, it is in the museum in Oshkosh

I’d built an rc model of one of these and as a kid it was not bad to fly it looked nice And was fast! I ended up making the tail surface larger by around 20% to gain stability at low speed, it was great after that but still I got bored so with some extra modifications mounted the battery in the tail and reversed all the wings I reversed it’s prop so it would push and it flew just like a Vulcan delta!

Magnificent

Nice plane 👌 👍 👏

Amazing amazing design.

Reminds me of the Gulfstreem Jet test flight crash..often pilots are pushed to expedite the testing-planning & testing-scheduled …a form of get there now syndrome…I think Scotty Wilson knew the aircraft was a dangerous bird offering huge risks to life but decided to make one more before placing the bird into the Smithsonian or other museum. As a pilot it pays to respect your intuition. RIP Captain Wilson.

5:48 All cylinders firing? Let me check with my FUCKING FINGER :D

Great channel and great video! The Bugatti 100 is one of the most beautiful and captivating “planes that never were”. Thanks for the story and the analysis of the replica accident. I hadn’t heard the details of the tragic test flight. Keep it up!

The Italians knew how to design the best airplanes thats for sure.

I saw this beauty at the Pederson Auto museum in the early 2000s .I thought it was a replica as it wasn't roped off. But looking through an access panel , I could see the older materials used for wiring , connecting plugs ,structure , etc it looked vintage. AND How did they get that propeller connected ? :)

The EAA museum is worth a trip in itself, but this exhibit alone is worth it to us nerds.

500mph is very very optimistic. I mean do you know how crazy the He 100 have to do to cool the insane engine for the record! Every surface on the He100 is made as an empty jacket to be filled with water for cooling. The whole aircraft itself was a giant radiator.

Where was the crash at 15:43 and what on earth was the pilot thinking? Does anyone have a link to the original video and/or accident report?

I know of this plane but only because i live in Wisconsin and see it at EAA when i go

10:39 a hero we didn't deserve.

I've seen it in person many a time. A stunning aircraft history wise, but I do not necessarily agree that it's that aesthetically pleasing

I love that you're explaining in both imperial and metric.. But why is only like 2/3 of all the units converted into metric?