From: girling@cs.sfu.ca (Doug Girling)
Subject: re: flying flea info wanted
Organization: CSS, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C., Canada
Date: Wed, 16 Dec 1992 21:23:05 GMT


To the person interested in flying fleas (sorry, my original post went to
rec.aviation and got deaten by the net.daemons):

As we have a flying flea (Pou de Ciel) at our local aviation museum, I'll
take the liberty of quoting from the tour book:

Regarding fleas in general:
-----
Henri Mignet's ultra light Pou du Ciel (Flying flea) tandem-wing light
plane created considerable controversy in the thirties, but development has
continued since the Second World War, the basic post-war single-seat
version being the HM-290 with a 25 h.p Poinsard engine, the sole example of
this currently registered in France having been built by J. Bouquet and
flown in 1958.  There are also four basically similar HM-239s flying in
France with various enbines (40 h.p. Train 4 A-01, 30 H.p. Volkswaagen H13,
etc.) and one HM-296 (40 h.p. Salmson 9Ad).  A number of other HM-290
serise aircraft are flying or under construction in various parts of the
world.

Power Plant: One 40 h.p. Train 4 A-01 four-cylinder air-cooled engine.
Performance: Max. speed, 91 m.p.h.; crusing, 80 m.p.h.; endurance, 4.25 hr.
Weights: Empty, 421 lb; loaaded 643 lb.
Dimensions: Span, 18 ft 1-3/4 in.; length, 12 ft. 6 in.; height, 5 ft.
7-1/4 in.; wing area, 108 sq. ft.
-----

Regarding the one in the collection:
-----
Mignet Pou du Ciel (Flying Flea) HM290
Serial JDS-1, CF-RDH

This aircraft was locally built by John Sayle in 1962, but the design dates
back to the 1920's.  Of French design it was built in vast numbers all over
the world, in more than 300 variants, with a variety of engines.

It is of very simple design, with a rudder providing directional control,
and moving the upper wing up and down for up and down movement.

`RDH was donated to the CMDF by EAA Chapter 85.  It is slated for recovery.
-----

As mentioned above, there are a huge number of variants of the `flea --
basically because nobody built it to the plans.  It was intended to be one
of those "planes for the rest of us" A/C from that period and as such was
of extremely simple construction, making it inexpensive and buildable by
the average "home handyman", it could be towed behind a car (all outer
wing panels fold in for clearance), and it was supposed to be spinproof and
so easy that non-pilots could fly it (one recalls similar claims for the
Erocoupe, Arrowplane, and a host of others from both sides of the Atlantic).

I used to volunteer my time at the museum and was responsible for the
periodicals archives.  One of my duties was to go through every magazine,
check it's condition and photocoypy and file any articles relating to A/C
in the collection.  Naturally, I read or skimmed many of the articles in
the process.  As I recall, and this is several years ago (caveat emptor!),
there were a lot of fatalities in the early days -- due in part to the
builders' temptation to "improve" the design, and their relative
inexperience in any aircraft.  I also seem to recall that there was an
aerodynamic problem somewhat akin to a deep stall where the A/C would
experience a very high sink rate recovered only when the lift was
transfered from the wings to the ground (there being some consolation, I
suppose, in making a prismatic rather than a helical hole in the ground --
it *was* spinproof).

The Flying Flea community seems to be rabidly enthusiastic -- not unlike
FORTH programmers -- and there has been a revival since WWII.  There was an
article in one of this year's KitPlanes on Dutch aviation, I believe, that
had a substantial section on Fleas.  You could also get the blurb from
Falconair, or check out your local EAA chapter, or contact Rose or Mark
Zalesky at the museum:

	The Canadian Museum of Flight and Trasportation
	13527 Crescent Road
	Surrey, B.C.
	Canada V4A 2W1
	(604)531-2465

Good luck
Doug
-- 
Doug Girling, lab engineer	| Voice: (604)291-4428  FAX:   (604)291-4951
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