HM14 Le Pou Du Ciel The Flying Flea - RAF Museum - Cosford, Shifnal, Shropshire, UK
N 52° 38.713 W 002° 19.020
30U E 546210 N 5833023
The HM14 Le Pou Du Ciel The Flying Flea, is located in Hangar 1 at the RAF Museum in Cosford.
Waymark Code: WM16FKV
Location: West Midlands, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 07/22/2022
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The Mignet HM14 Le Pou Du Ciel G-AEEH (The Flying Flea), is located in Hanger 1 at the RAF Museum in Cosford.
The museum is situated next to an active airfield, and is the only place in the Midlands where you can get close to so many breathtaking aircraft for free. (
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The HM.14 Pou du Ciel (The Flying Flea is a single-seat light aircraft first flown in 1933, designed for amateur construction.
Pou du Ciel translates as "Louse of the Sky.
The HM.14 was designed by French radio engineer Henri Mignet. It was the result of his ambition to design a safe aeroplane that could be built quickly and cheaply by any amateur familiar with simple woodwork and metalwork skills.
It was the first of a family of aircraft collectively known as Flying Fleas.
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This aircraft G-AEEH is located in Hangar 1 at the RAF Cosford Museum.
It is a tandem wing design and could use a variety of engines. This example is powered by an AJS twin cylinder motor-cycle engine.
"Details of its construction were published in Newnes Practical Mechanics during 1935 and the estimated building cost was 75. One estimate is that five-hundred of these aircraft were under construction in Britain in 1936.
G-AEEH was built over a period of approximately twelve months starting in the spring of 1935 in a garage in Bath. It made several flights at Whitchurch Airfield near Bristol in 1936 and its last recorded flight was on 16 May 1937. The owner commented that the Scott Squirrel engine originally fitted seemed somewhat under powered as the aircraft required firm ground and a fair breeze to get airborne.
Following a series of fatal accidents involving this type the French authorities banned its use in 1936 and wind tunnel tests revealed an aerodynamic flaw that could result in an uncontrollable and ever steeper dive. The Air Ministry subsequently issued a ban in the summer of 1937 and GAEEH was dismantled and stored in the owner’s garage.
The aircraft on display is on loan from Mr M. Davis of Bath and has been renovated by members of the Aerospace Museum Society."
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