29 June 1931: Maryse Bastié set three Fédération Aéronautique Internationale (FAI) World Records for Distance in a Straight Line Without Landing ¹ when she flew a Klemm L 25.I monoplane, La Trottinette, 2,976.91 kilometers (1,849.77 statute miles) from Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France, to Yurino, Mari Autonomous Oblast, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics.

The Klemm Leichtflugzeugbau GmbH L 25.I was designed by Dr.-Ing. Hanns Klemm. It was a single place, single engine light airplane with an open cockpit and conventional fixed landing gear. It was  constructed of wood, and covered with plywood. The airplane was 7.3 meters (23 feet, 11.4 inches) feet) long with a wingspan of 13 meters (42 feet, 7.8 inches) and height of 1.75 meters (5 feet, 8.9 inches). The total wing area was 20 square meters (215.3 square feet). The airfoil was the Göttingen 385. It had an empty weight 285 kilograms (628 pounds), gross weight 500 kilograms (1,102 pounds)

The Klemm L 25.I was powered by a normally-aspirated, air-cooled, 2.979 liter (181.77 cubic inch displacement) Société des Moteurs Salmson AD.9 nine-cylinder radial direct-drive engine, which was rated at 45 pferdestarke (44.4 horsepower) at 2,000 r.p.m. The engine was 69.1 centimeters (2 feet, 3.2 inches) long, 63 centimeters (2 feet, 0.8 inches) in diameter, and had a dry weight of 69.9 kilograms ( 154.1 pounds).

The Klemm L 25.I had a maximum speed of 140 kilometers per hour (87 miles per hour). With a fuel capacity of 50 liters (13 gallons), its range was 650 kilometers (404 miles)). The service ceiling was 6,500 meters (21,325 feet).

More than 600 were built in Germany between 1929 and 1936. More were built under license in England and the United States.

¹ FAI Record File Numbers 12345, 12346, 14886

© 2025, Bryan R. Swopes