Cute Bipe - what is it?

[Terry Caron]

A Pou de Ciel variant?
In a museum, Nashville, TN.

[Robert Zambelli]

Bipe? Don't think so.

[Elwyn Aud]

Flying Flea?

[wwwarbird]

 Piper Flying Fool, predecessor to Sterling's version. 

[Serge_Krauss]

Yes, it's a "Flying Flea" (in English) variant, a tandem-winged aircraft. Engines and cowlings vary in this homebuilt design. My Mignet files are burried; so I can't say much more.

[Terry Caron]

Alrighty. Still cute.

[dennis lipsett]

I believe that the French name for the airplane translates as the French called it the louse of the sky. I believe the name is the Pou du Ceil.

Dennis

[Robert Whitley]

Definitely a "Flying Flea".
Some are still being built including an ultralight variant.

[Serge_Krauss]

I believe that the French name for the airplane translates as the French called it the louse of the sky. I believe the name is the Pou du Ceil.
Dennis

Exactly so.

The "Flea" was designed by Henri Mignet as a solution to his inability to coordinate ailerons with other controls and as a means of getting into the air cheaply. He thus designed a tandem-winged plane in which, among other things, the forward wing was placed above the imoveable aft wing and pivoted for pitch control, in place of elevators. The rudder controlled turns. He built his "HM 14" and flew it successfully. Apparently feeling that if he could fly it, then it must be safe, he wrote a little booklet and sold plans, creating a craze among people wanting affordable flying. Soon many were flying, but fatal accidents were beginning to happen; at low a.o.a. "Fleas" were diving uncontrollably. The French and British governments did wind-tunnel tests on models and a full-sized plane. The tests confirmed that at aoa's of much less than 5^o, the negative pitching moments increased to the point that the the limited range of foreward-wing pitch was insufficient to overcome the tendency. Adding incidence range to the front wing helped, but did not eliminate the control reversal that ensued. Moving the c.g. forward actually helped some, but did not entirely solve the problem. So the "Pou du Ciel" was banned in France and grounded in England.

Mignet quickly redesigned the plane with new flatter bottomed airfoils and some other changes, apparently overcoming the lethal problems. Barnaby Wainfan wrote many years later in "Kitplanes" that the location of the plane's center of mass far below the aero center of the plane was a large contributer to its initial instability.

Ultimately, although the movement to build HM-14's was halted during a time that this little plane might have revolutionized private air travel in Europe, many more were built subsequently, quite a few in the U.S. As far as I know, there are still some flying here.

Here are some illustrations, mostly contemporary with Mignet's original work. The U.S. patent (application made 4/16/36) shows features not included in the HM-14, as so many patents do. Its application date indicates that it does not include any redesign features, even though the wing sections shown are not undercambered.