|
Mignet HM 14 Flying Flea 
For simplicity the top wing pivoted about the front spar and was tilted up and down for longitudinal control. There were no ailerons, turns being made by the rudder alone. Mignet's Pou and his book Le Sport de l’Air started a craze for do-it-yourself aircraft in the 1930s. Translated to English by the British Air League which did not include a true and correct C of G situation. This resulted in numerous crashes. Flea fever swept France, Britain and America. In 1935 some 600 Flying Fleas were under construction in the British Isles alone. Most stayed firmly on the ground. Ignorant of the ways of aircraft, they built their Fleas too heavy, or used unsuitable engines, so that the machines would do little more than tear around re-fusing even to hop like their namesakes. Most were fitted with the 25 hp Scott or Douglas engine. It was a blessing in disguise, for the Pou du Ciel had an inherent design fault. The trouble lay in Mignet's tan-dem-wing configuration: the rear wing was fixed while the incidence of front surface could be varied to give control in pitch. If the front wing was allowed to stall, the nose would drop and because of an obscure inter-ference effect between the two wings the aircraft would dive ever steeper until it either became stabilized in an inverted posi-tion from which recovery was impossible, or struck the ground. Accidents showed that the aircraft became uncontrollable if the wing incidence exceeded 15 degrees, and British Fleas were promptly grounded. It became illegal to fly unmodified Flying Fleas after June 1937. 
|
