This looks like a model but is in fact the fuselage for an aircraft called the Flying Flea,a craze hit the UK in the thirties to build your very own flying machine in your back yard,the person who was behind all of this was a Frenchman called Henri Mignet,he wrote a best selling instruction manual which sold in its thousands with a step-by-step guide,there were no fancy materials just ordinary timber yard wood and brackets made from mild steel,after hundreds were built a lot of people were killed flying them,basically the design was flawed as the aircraft reached a certain flying speed she would flip onto its back and would not right itself,the ensuing crash landing usually finished off the pilot and the outcome was a bad press and an eventual ban on the aircraft.
At Farnborough a machine was placed into a wind tunnel and the problem became apparent,the gap between the upper and lower wing was super critical and as the wing was pivoted to climb and dive the aircraft became uncontrollable,although a modification was designed it really never got installed on the thirties machines.
However that was not to be the end of the story,as Mignets son took over the design and made a modern day version with proper controls this is still available today and one version is called the 'Croses LC-6' with a modern powerplant,the originals had motor cycle engines usually a Scott Flying Squirrel.
And yes I have built models of the Flying Flea ! in fact one re-enacted the exact situation detailed above and I had to land her inverted as well,she eventually broke up in the air after 300 flights when the wing developed flutter,I never found out why after all of those flights in the log book ?
A strange machine but one which really started the homebuilt aircraft movement and paved the way for the microlights we see flying all over,so we owe a lot to that small Frenchman.
Linear Mode
