Udet U 8

The parasol wing, single engine Udet U 8, sometimes referred to as the Limousine, was a three-seat commercial passenger transport designed and built in Germany in 1924.

[1][2] The following year Udet produced the first U 8, which had a 75 kW (100 hp) nine-cylinder, Siemens-Halske Sh 6 radial, making it rather heavier than the U 5 but leaving the design only slightly changed and the dimensions unaltered.

[4][5] The cantilever, one-piece parasol wing of the U.8 was trapezoidal in plan, with long, elliptical tips.

It had a thick section which thinned outwards and was built around two spruce box spars and fabric covered.

[4][6] The wing was mounted a little above the fuselage on four short struts, two to each spar, an unusual arrangement used earlier on the U 5 and chosen by its designer, Hans Herrmanns, to improve both the aerodynamics at the wing-fuselage junction and cabin ventilation, a problem in small cabin aircraft of the time.

Powered during the contest by the Bristol Lucifer engine (it had a nine-cylinder Siemens at another time), it successfully completed all five circuits of the contest, a total of distance of 5,242 km (3,257 mi; 2,830 nmi) but, with a more powerful engine than most in its class (C}, was ranked only ninth.