Deperdussin taxi-type single seat training monoplane : Central Flying School

The Memorial’s Deperdussin single-seat training monoplane is Australia’s oldest surviving military aircraft. It was one of two single-seat trainers, Type A, with 35-horsepower Anzani Y-type three-cylinder engines, ordered from the British Deperdussin Aeroplane Company by the Australian government in 1912 for the Central Flying School at Point Cook, Victoria. Purchased as a “Taxi-Type” for ground training, it was rigged with insufficient power to lift off.

The aircraft is a fragile construction of wood, metal, and Irish linen, and contains only basic features, such as “advance” and “retard” controls. It relied upon wing-warping for lateral control, and the only instrument is a glass panel on the metal fuel tank (between the steering wheel and propeller) that indicated fuel levels. Major advancements in aviation technology meant that the Deperdussin was obsolete long before the war’s end.