Sport Scale Monocoupe – Build a Lightly Loaded Electric Classic

“The Ultimate plane for the private flyer,” so read the advertisement for the Velie Monocoupe in the late 1920s. “A dehydrated version of the ‘Spirit of St. Louis,’” is how the late Cole Palen, founder of Old Rhinebeck aerodrome, described his. Growing up in Connecticut, I had watched many of Palen’s wonders take to the sky, but I had forgotten about this little gem. I was quite taken with the radial engine protruding from the...