Many enthusiasts are aware of Ettore Bugatti’s marvelous sports cars and exemplary GP cars. However, not many people know that in the late 1930s, Bugatti planned on building record-braking airplanes, as well. Therein hangs a tale.
Ettore Bugatti departed from his usual creation of advanced racecars and hired Louis de Monge to design the Bugatti Model 100 in 1937 to compete in a 1938 closed-circuit airplane race. At this time, the Germans, the Italians and the English led the world in high-speed monoplanes. In 1938, a German Heinkel 100V2 raised the world 100 km circuit speed to 394.6 miles per hour.
