On 10 September 1933, Mignet made his maiden flight in the HM.14, the first of his Mignet Pou-du-Ciel (Flying Flea) designs. In 1934, he published Le Sport de l’Air and playfully called the aircraft Pou du Ciel (literally “Louse of the Sky” in French) with the intention that it would be built by amateurs.

It was a somewhat strange-looking airplane, but it’s single defining design concept has lasted more than 90 years – the front wing of the “Flea” is not fixed, but can pivot. When the pilot pulls the controls backwards, the front wing pivots nose up, and vice-versa.

Lest one think (as I did initially) that this would result in extremely large control forces, it turned out that this was not the case. The natural tendency of the wing to pivot nose-down was remarkably gentle, and entirely controllable – resulting in what Mignet called a “living wing” where the movement of the front wing could be felt gently tugging on the controls – as though it were alive.

Over the ensuing 90 years, the basic design (i.e. the “living wing”) has remained unchanged, though the rest of the design has evolved. Probably the most successful Flea design is the HM293.

Enter the Tiny Cedar Flea:
Flying Fleas tend to be small planes, and the TCF is no exception, measuring only 3020mm in length. But apart from its diminutive size, the design features a number of unique and intriguing features, which significantly improve on this almost century-old design.

For one thing, BOTH front and rear wings pivot in concert with each other. In addition, I’ve added a horisontal stabiliser on the top of the tail to control the nose-down torque. All three flying surfaces are linked to a single joystick control. Simple and elegant. This basic design is not new. It was pioneered by Juan de la Farge in Argentina, a colleague and collaborator of Henry Mignet. Together they set up production in Argentina, but the partnership did not last.

My evolution of la Farge’s “Pulga” design transforms his rather large plane into a super-mini design yet still suitable for larger frame pilots.  And it is available as either a nose or taildragger.  But possibly the most interesting thing about the Tiny Cedar Flea is hidden in its name – the entire plane is constructed exactly the way Cedar strip kayaks are made.  5mm thick Cedar strips are laid over CNC cut formers, bonded together and then sheathed (inside and out) with very light glassfibre cloth.  The look is amazing, it is light and rigid.

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