NOTE: I HAVE NO CONTROL OVER THE ABOVE BANNERS WHICH APPEAR ON THIS SITE, OR THE CONTENT OF THE SITES TO WHICH THESE BANNERS LINK.
The following article was sent to me by Douglas Ormrod of Auckland, New Zealand.
The Austin 7 and Aviation
The initial success of the Austin 7 can be attributed to a lack ofcompetitors in the field of genuine small cars. However, through thelate twenties and early thirties there was real competition fromMorris, Triumph, Standard and others so there must have been somethingabout the overall design that maintained the edge. That something wasthe engine. Other aspects of the car were on a par with most of thecompetition - but no other company in the period came close toproducing an sub-1000cc engine which was as reliable, powerful andtuneable as the Austin 7 unit. Austin recognised the potential foralternative uses of the engine and produced a number of conversionsfor marine and light industrial use. One application never envisagedby the factory was in aviation, but believe it or not the Austin 7engine did make at least two contributions to this field - one on theground, one in the air.
On The Ground
The prototype jet engine was developed by Sir Frank Whittle in the1930's, and the first aircraft to be powered by his design was theGloster E 28 which made its maiden flight in May 1941. Now, you don'tstart a modern jet with a swing on the turbine and the early ones wereno different, an auxiliary power source was required.. You mightthink a program such as the development of the jet aeroplane wouldhave full government backing, as the German competition did, but thiswas not the case. The W.1.X jet engine was built by Frank Whittle'sown company Power Jets, and was only marginally funded. To save money,the Power Jet engineers bought a pair of magneto Austin 7 engines froma Luton scrap yard and built one from the two. This was then mountedon a trolley and used to wind up the Gloster's turbine through aconnection reportedly known colloquially as "the elephants tool" It isa credit to Sir Herbert's design that the Austin 7 engine was alreadywell out of production by the time it was used to start the latest inBritish aviation technology. Those who require further information arereferred to "Jet Flight" by John Grierson, p49, and a recent articlein the 1998A edition of the Austin Seven Club Association Magazine.
Of course the British were not the first off the ground with ajet-powered plane, and the Germans had made it into the air in theHenikel He-178 some 21 months earlier. It would have been fitting ifthey had used the Austin 7-derived BMW Dixi engine to fire it up,but, with money no object, they opted for a Reidel 2-cyl, horizontallyopposed, "pancake" gasoline engine.
In the Air
So much for the Austin 7 engine as a starter motor, but did itactually fly? As with the bumble bee, it shouldn't have - but did. Atleast eight Austin 7 engines were fitted to the Henri Mignet designed"Flying Flea" - and there is firm evidence that two of these actuallyflew. Henri Mignet was a Frenchman with a passion for designing smallaeroplanes and was unencumbered by a formal training in aeronauticalengineering. Mignet's "suck it and see" strategy was possibly not thebest approach to building aeroplanes, but he did managed to get hiscreations off the ground and progressed through a number of models -all designated HM - until he reached HM14 - the Pou du Ciel or FlyingFlea. In terms of numbers built this was possibly his most successfulmodel. In 1935 Mignet published a book, Le Sport de l'Air, whichcontained detailed plans for the HM14 and also espoused his philosophyof aviation. Mignet believed flying was for everyone and he envisioneda society where people moved from place to place in small inexpensiveplanes. The Flea was to be the forerunner of these and he designed itto be cheap and simple enough for the average handyman to build. Inappearance the flea is not unlike a modern microlight - with a coffinslung below it. Perhaps the greatest similarity is the lack of controlsurfaces on the wings. The wing is pivoted for fore and aft movementand lift is controlled by altering the angle of attack. Direction iscontrolled by the finless rudder. Many hundreds of these planes wereconstructed - or at least started - and several flew. Unfortunatelythe design was marginal, and changes in weight distribution, caused bymistakes in translating from the metric system or using incorrectgauge of material, gave rise to unpredictable behaviour in the air.Pilots were killed, and both French and British authorities pronouncedthe Flea unairworthy. Although the design fault could have been fixed,the craze waned, and most were broken up or abandoned unfinished.
Most French built Fleas used Aubier et Dunne motorcycle engines, whichwere difficult to obtain outside of France. In the UK, Douglas andScott engines were the most common power plants, but it is thoughtthat at least 8 were built with Austin 7 engines. Two of these gainedregistration G-AEEI and G-AERJ. The former was built by CharlesCooper, father of John Cooper the race car constructor. The engine wasa modified water cooled A7 unit which drove the propellor by chainreduction. It was flight tested at Shoreham. The engine was laterswapped for a Henderson motor cycle unit and the A7 plant was used inthe construction of the Cooper No. 1 Special. The second A7-enginedFlea was built by the Millichamp brothers and flew from Ely inCambridgeshire.
Unfortunately no Austin powered Fleas are know to survive with theoriginal engines in place. However, the example built by Mr SOWhiteley of Rishworth and originally fitted with an air cooled A7 unitdoes survive - albeit with a Scott engine.
So that's the story of the contribution of the Austin 7 to aviation -so far. Plans for the Mignet Flying Flea still exist as do many A7engines. Therefore, it would not be too difficult to reconstruct anAustin 7-powered Flea to the original design - the problem might befinding a test pilot!!
For a more detailed discussion of the A7-powered Mignet Fleas see theAustin Seven Club Association Magazine 1984B.
Douglas OrmrodThe following photographs show a Flying Flea at MOTAT (Museum ofTransport and Technology) in Auckland, New Zealand
There are many references to Flying Fleas on the world wide web, here is one
return to Andy's Austin Seven Page
