The following article on Flying Fleas was written for Classic Wings Downunder and published in Volume 3, No.1, in 1996. Although not classified a "warbird", I'm sure those of you who are interested in old aircraft will enjoy reading about this very unusual and interesting aircraft.

The period between the two world wars has often been referred to as the golden age of flying. It was during the 1920s and 1930s that aviation captured people's imaginations like never before. It was a romantic period when long-distance flyers became heroes of an increasingly 'air-minded' public. For the first time, people could travel by air in relative safety and comfort. For those wanting to own and fly their own aircraft, companies such as de Havillands were producing aeroplanes like the Moth which were easy to fly, relatively cheap to buy and inexpensive to run. But, for the average man in the street, they were not cheap enough. That changed, however, with the arrival of the Flying Flea.

In 1935, the French inventor, Henri Mignet, wrote a book called "The Flying Flea" or "Le Pou-du-Ciel." It was translated into English by the Air League of the British Empire and immediately began selling by the thousand. Mignet, who professed that he was not a pilot, had no training as an engineer and was poor, claimed that it was possible to build a Flea for as little as £50 (£20 for the airframe and £30 for the engine). It was also claimed that "If you can nail together a packing case, you can construct an aeroplane." This was all the masses wanted to hear and, with the help of the book, which gave full details on construction, Fleas began appearing in garages and backyards the world over.

In New Zealand the Pou-du-Ciel League was formed in 1935 and as many as 12 projects were started. Interest in the aircraft was high and many people had visions of the skies being filled with Fleas as people used them for transport to and from work. Others were more sceptical.

To prove the Flea was more than a toy to the sceptics, Mignet demonstrated his machine at Orly, France, in a wind gusting to 35 knots and even landed safely with a dead engine. The first British Flea was registered G-ADMH and made history by becoming the first aircraft to be issued with a Permit to Fly, the Air Ministry waiving the expensive restrictions on design and construction so long as they were flown for sporting purposes and insured against third party risk. G-ADMH, rebuilt with a larger wing following a crash, went on to fly across the English Channel on 5 December 1935, with British pilot Stephen Appleby at the controls. This success, and many column inches in the Daily Express, had captured the imagination of the man in the street.

Having the jump on their counterparts Downunder, the European Fleas began to take to the skies in increasing numbers. With a number of Fleas flying successfully in France, the Flying Flea craze swept England in 1936. A number of well known British aviators of the time flew them successfully, including Charles Scott of Mildenhall-Melbourne Air Race fame and Sir Alan Cobham who used a Flea in his flying circus. Arthur Clouston, a New Zealander born in the Nelson region, who set a number of aviation records, also flew a Flea in England. In his book "The Dangerous Skies", Clouston describes his visit to the first British Flying Flea Display,

"The pilot who had flown down in his Flea took off on time on the programme to demonstrate its flying qualities. When he had finished his show, other Flea owners tried to emulate him. Most of them had not been inside an aeroplane in their lives.

"It was not long before the field was a mass of darting, screaming Fleas trying to get airborne. There was no organisation, control, or wind indicator. Each would-be flyer ignored, or was ignorant of, the wind factor, with the result that Fleas were raced across the field in any direction that their owners fancied. Fleas crossed one another's paths, missing one another by inches. It was only a matter of time before the inevitable collisions occurred. Fortunately, the damage was restricted to the Fleas, and no one was badly hurt.

"Out of all the attempts, only one Flea at last succeeded in getting airborne. It was flown by a fifteen-year-old boy, and we discovered it was the five-bob "pilot yourself" Flea with the sawn-off propeller tips which was not supposed to fly. The lad had run the full length of the field and just as he was about to crash into the hedge, he hit a bump, pulled back the stick, and found himself fifteen feet up an old oak-tree. He received the loudest applause of the day as he was helped down from the tree."

This account of the first British Flying Flea display clearly shows that the Flea was not all it was made out to be. The fact that many of them did not get airborne was partly due to the lack of any piloting skills of those trying and partly due to the aircraft being under-powered with either a motor-cycle or small 10hp car engine. Later Fleas, fitted with more powerful engines, reached heights of several hundred feet but it was considered an achievement if one-third of the Fleas at a meeting got into the air. Then came the crashes.

Despite the machines being built by the home handyman without any controls or checks, there is little evidence to show that any of the accidents were caused by structural failure. Despite Mignet's claims of being easy to fly, the aircraft proved to be very unstable and potentially lethal in the hands of low-hour pilots. The design of the Fleas was unusual in that it consisted of two wings that were offset. The rear wing was set in position on top of the fuselage but the front wing above the pilot's head could be tilted up and down by moving the control stick backwards and forwards. There were no ailerons on the wing and turns were achieved by use of the rudder, also attached to the control stick, to yaw the aircraft which increased the airflow, and thus lift, to the wings moving forward.

Clouston nearly killed himself on his first flight in a Flea. Taking off from an aerodrome, where he used the full twelve-hundred-yards to get airborne, he climbed to a height of six hundred feet. When ready to descend, he eased the nose down, closed the throttle, and began a gentle gliding turn. Without the slightest warning the Flea turned upside down and "dropped like a brick toward the ground." Fortunately Clouston had been conscious of the RAF motto, "Height never killed anyone", because it took him five hundred feet to recover. This was achieved by opening the throttle to get the air flowing over the tail surfaces.

In early May 1936 there were two fatal Flea crashes in Britain and news of this reached Australia and New Zealand soon after. A cablegram to "The Press" newspaper in Christchurch on May 9 reported that there was to be an official enquiry into Flying Fleas after the accidents, one which had killed a test pilot. Later that month another British Flea crashed killing Squadron Leader C.R. Davidson. All three Fleas had entered an involuntary dive which steepened despite the efforts of the pilots to recover. In June 1936, the French Government provisionally banned Fleas and, in September, a fourth Flea fatality in Britain prompted the Air League to send its own Flea to the RAE at Farnborough for testing in a wind tunnel. The tests revealed that when the negative angle of wing incidence exceeded -15º, there was insufficient pitching moment to raise the nose. No matter how hard the pilot tried to raise the nose, the dive only steepened until the Flea hit the ground. The Flea was banned immediately.

Left - ZM-AAC photographed at Warbirds Over Wanaka in 1992.

Right from the start in New Zealand, the aircraft was treated with a difference. Of the twelve or so projects started, only three Fleas received registration. They were given registrations under the 'ZM' prefix, the only aircraft to receive them, but none were given a Certificate of Airworthiness. Permission was given for the Fleas to be flown within three statute miles of a licensed airfield and only by a licensed pilot. None were registered in Australia, although it is known that some Fleas were built and flown in country areas. One Australian Flea, which was built in Ipswich, Queensland, is currently on display in the Brisbane Museum.

In New Zealand, ZM-AAA, which is at the Museum of Transport and Technology in Auckland, was built by E.R. Perkins and L. Hawke of Waipukurau and was displayed at the North Island Air Pageant in New Plymouth during 1937. Arriving on the back of a truck, it was powered with a Douglas Dryad engine and showed a high standard of workmanship. The Flea was not flown at the pageant and it is not known whether it flew at all.

ZM-AAB flew successfully from Mangere in May 1936. It was piloted by Allan McGruer, an aircraft engineer, who had built it with Richard Downey. After a day of trials where the aircraft was taxied back and forth, the aircraft was flown the following day. Despite the engine, an A.B.C. Scorpion, oiling badly, McGruer missed the field on his first approach and had to go around for a second attempt. Side-slipping on finals, he landed successfully. Those who had backed the project financially were so pleased that they planned to build a factory to turn out thousands of the aircraft. With the aircraft banned in France the following month, and later in Britain, no factory or Fleas were built.

The most successful of the New Zealand Fleas was ZM-AAC which is now housed at the Wanaka Transport Museum. Carefully built in Oamaru by W.L.Notman, the aircraft was powered by a Scott Flying Squirrel engine (Notman was the South Island agent) and had a propeller made of native beech. the fuselage was painted a pastel blue with the wings and tail silver. It was flown from the Alma aerodrome by Dave Whitaker to a height of around 1000' in May 1937. To keep the local police happy after the flight, Whitaker had to sign a statement that he had not flown further than the regulation three miles away from the aerodrome.

Left - Photograph of Barnard Owen taken in the late 1930s.

Two other Fleas are known to have flown, although they did not receive registration. These were one built and flown by E.R. Brewster of New Plymouth and another in Christchurch by Barnard Owen. Owen, a member of the Canterbury Aero Club and agent for Taylor aircraft, built the aircraft at home in the living room, something his wife and young family had to tolerate for a period. Owen's Flea differed from others in that the trailing edge of the top wing was attached to the leading edge of the rear wing which also pivoted. With this method of rigging, the angle of attack of the rear wing would decrease if the angle of attack of the front wing was increased and would result in more effective pitch control. This possibly overcame the problem of nose-diving. Owen flew his Flea in secrecy from a site near Lake Ellesmere as well as from Wigram. It had a Scott Squirrel engine and was reported to fly exceptionally well. This aircraft was subsequently sold to Ken Cox who was killed when the aircraft crashed at Fairview, near Timaru, in September 1942.

Although Mignet was to soldier on with the basic Flea concept, the Flea was dead in Britain and most other countries after the ban. Henri Mignet died in 1965 at the age of 71.

Footnote - Although Mignet's design was banned, other aircraft based on his design of two wings (one forward and above the other) have since flown successfully.