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Mignet HM.14 Pou Du Ciel La Cucaracha
Frenchman Henri Mignet's vision of a simple aircraft that amateurs could build and even teach themselves to fly led him in 1933 to design the Pou Du Ciel (Flying Flea). In an attempt to render the aircraft stall-proof and safe for amateur pilots, he staggers the two main wings. The HM.14 enjoyed a period of intense popularity in France and England, but a series of accidents in 1935-36 permanently blackened the airplane's reputation.
This is the first HM.14 made and flown in the United States. Edward Nirmaier and two other men built it in 1935 for Powell Crosley Jr, president of Crosley Radio. A crash at the Miami Air Races that year grounded the airplane for good. In 1960, Patrick H Packard donated it to the Smithsonian. Packard and Patti Koppa finished restoring it in 1987, fabricating a wooden replica engine to replace the missing original ABC Scorpion engine. |