Tour the Demoiselle
Bamboo Frame
One of the significant structures of the Demoiselle is the
triangular fuselage made of three bamboo poles. You can see the use
of the bamboo, and also the concept of incorporating some steel into
the structure to give it some strength, the steel tubes that form
the triangular fuselage. You had a structure much like a bridge, a
very, very strong, lightweight, resilient structure. And it was
very, very successful for this particular airplane. A little detail
note that you'll notice in between what are known as nodes, the
little bumps on the bamboo poles, you'll see some brass wire
wrapped. This wasn't for decoration. This was used to keep the
bamboo from splitting along its length.