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Andy's Austin Seven Page - Interesting Articles
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 of
competitors in the field of genuine small cars. However, through the
late twenties and early thirties there was real competition from
Morris, Triumph, Standard and others so there must have been something
about the overall design that maintained the edge. That something was
the engine. Other aspects of the car were on a par with most of the
competition - but no other company in the period came close to
producing an sub-1000cc engine which was as reliable, powerful and
tuneable as the Austin 7 unit. Austin recognised the potential for
alternative uses of the engine and produced a number of conversions
for marine and light industrial use. One application never envisaged
by the factory was in aviation, but believe it or not the Austin 7
engine did make at least two contributions to this field - one on the
ground, one in the air.
On The Ground
The prototype jet engine was developed by Sir Frank Whittle in the
1930's, and the first aircraft to be powered by his design was the
Gloster E 28 which made its maiden flight in May 1941. Now, you don't
start a modern jet with a swing on the turbine and the early ones were
no different, an auxiliary power source was required.. You might
think a program such as the development of the jet aeroplane would
have full government backing, as the German competition did, but this
was not the case. The W.1.X jet engine was built by Frank Whittle's
own company Power Jets, and was only marginally funded. To save money,
the Power Jet engineers bought a pair of magneto Austin 7 engines from
a Luton scrap yard and built one from the two. This was then mounted
on a trolley and used to wind up the Gloster's turbine through a
connection reportedly known colloquially as "the elephants tool" It is
a credit to Sir Herbert's design that the Austin 7 engine was already
well out of production by the time it was used to start the latest in
British aviation technology. Those who require further information are
referred to "Jet Flight" by John Grierson, p49, and a recent article
in the 1998A edition of the Austin Seven Club Association Magazine.
Of course the British were not the first off the ground with a
jet-powered plane, and the Germans had made it into the air in the
Henikel He-178 some 21 months earlier. It would have been fitting if
they 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, horizontally
opposed, "pancake" gasoline engine.
In the Air
So much for the Austin 7 engine as a starter motor, but did it
actually fly? As with the bumble bee, it shouldn't have - but did. At
least eight Austin 7 engines were fitted to the Henri Mignet designed
"Flying Flea" - and there is firm evidence that two of these actually
flew. Henri Mignet was a Frenchman with a passion for designing small
aeroplanes and was unencumbered by a formal training in aeronautical
engineering. Mignet's "suck it and see" strategy was possibly not the
best approach to building aeroplanes, but he did managed to get his
creations off the ground and progressed through a number of models -
all designated HM - until he reached HM14 - the Pou du Ciel or Flying
Flea. In terms of numbers built this was possibly his most successful
model. In 1935 Mignet published a book, Le Sport de l'Air, which
contained detailed plans for the HM14 and also espoused his philosophy
of aviation. Mignet believed flying was for everyone and he envisioned
a society where people moved from place to place in small inexpensive
planes. The Flea was to be the forerunner of these and he designed it
to be cheap and simple enough for the average handyman to build. In
appearance the flea is not unlike a modern microlight - with a coffin
slung below it. Perhaps the greatest similarity is the lack of control
surfaces on the wings. The wing is pivoted for fore and aft movement
and lift is controlled by altering the angle of attack. Direction is
controlled by the finless rudder. Many hundreds of these planes were
constructed - or at least started - and several flew. Unfortunately
the design was marginal, and changes in weight distribution, caused by
mistakes in translating from the metric system or using incorrect
gauge of material, gave rise to unpredictable behaviour in the air.
Pilots were killed, and both French and British authorities pronounced
the 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, which
were difficult to obtain outside of France. In the UK, Douglas and
Scott engines were the most common power plants, but it is thought
that at least 8 were built with Austin 7 engines. Two of these gained
registration G-AEEI and G-AERJ. The former was built by Charles
Cooper, father of John Cooper the race car constructor. The engine was
a modified water cooled A7 unit which drove the propellor by chain
reduction. It was flight tested at Shoreham. The engine was later
swapped for a Henderson motor cycle unit and the A7 plant was used in
the construction of the Cooper No. 1 Special. The second A7-engined
Flea was built by the Millichamp brothers and flew from Ely in
Cambridgeshire.
Unfortunately no Austin powered Fleas are know to survive with the
original engines in place. However, the example built by Mr SO
Whiteley of Rishworth and originally fitted with an air cooled A7 unit
does 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 A7
engines. Therefore, it would not be too difficult to reconstruct an
Austin 7-powered Flea to the original design - the problem might be
finding a test pilot!!
For a more detailed discussion of the A7-powered Mignet Fleas see the
Austin Seven Club Association Magazine 1984B.
Douglas Ormrod
The following photographs show a Flying Flea at MOTAT (Museum of
Transport and Technology) in Auckland, New Zealand
There are many references to Flying Fleas on the world wide web, here is one
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