Henri Mignet's « Pou du Ciel » (Flying Flea)

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Paul Poinsot's "Jeanine", a highly-modified Mignet HM 8

Translated from Pierre Jarrige's website:

From 1933 to 1935, Paul Poinsot built in Algeria a highly-modified Mignet HM 8, with the help of Jean Bayada and Gabriel Courbet. Fitted with the engine from an American "Indian" motorbike, the aircraft was not powerful (or too heavy?) to take off and was therefore used for basic training on the ground.

In 1935, Paul Poinsot re-engined the aircraft with a 35 hp Anzani aircraft engine (see attachments) and christened it "Jeanine" after a friend's daughter. This version was to be short-lived; one of the tires pulled off its wheel while taxiing, leading to the aircraft's destruction and ruining three years of work in three seconds.

After the failure of his modified HM 8, Paul Poinsot built a Pou du Ciel in 1938, nicknamed "Kissou".
Click to expand...


This aircraft and many other Mignet amateur builds in Algeria can be found in Pierre Jarrige's great file.
 

Attachments

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37210~0.jpg


I'm not sure if this is the right place to ask this question, but there are other similar planes on this page, so I hope it's Ok.

I have a hard time recoginzing the "ultralight" airplane sitting on top of this Bugatti. We know all about the Bugatti, including it's chassis number (37210), it's a 1.5 litre 4 cylinder Type 37, actually the cheaper version of the 8 cylinder Type 35.

About the airplane we know nothing, it has a small engine, about 7 meters wing span. Not even sure if it is in fact an airplane, or a toy made for a parade or so....
Why it sits on top of the Bugatti also is unknown (I have photo's of another Bugatti, which has an airplane mounted on top as a cheaper alternative to wind tunnel testing, but that is certainly not the case here), it may be that the small airplane started from atop the Bugatti, so there should be some kind of release mechanism. But if that is the case, why take the photo in the middle of town, and not on some airfield.... And for transportation, not logical with the wings fitted!

Any help?
 
A Pou de Ciel, probably a Mignet HM.14. Take a look at http://pouduciel.free.fr/ for more information.
 
It is indeed a Pou-du-Ciel, however, it doesn't seem to have it's rear wing fitted...

cheers,
Robin.
 
If not for the lack of its rear wing, I'd suggest that the arrangement was constructed as a method of launching the Pou - either as an experiment or as an entertainment. I believe that at airshows one sometimes sees a Piper Cub, or some such similar small aeroplane, with its engine running and attached to the roof of a motor vehicle, which then drives along a runway until the aeroplane has achieved flying speed when it lifts off the roof of the vehicle and flies away. Nowadays vehicles more substantial than a Bugatti 37 are used for this 'trick' but I suppose something as insubstantial as an HM.14 might work with a Bugatti. However at low speed, when presumably the Bugatti is taking most of the weight of the aircraft, there might be CoG issues and it might be an 'interesting' drive for driver of the Bugatti! I'm glad to say that the none of the Type 37s I saw I saw at Angoulême last month were troubled with such a contraption!
 
Hi J.J. Horst,


great find,but what was Type 35 ?.
 
Thanks for the help! THe Pou du Ciel had slipped my mind.

Following question is the where and who (and when).

The Bugatti, according to the registers, was sold in 1926 to agent René de Buck in Brussels, Belgium. So could the picture be taken somewhere in Belgium?
 
The sign above and to the right of the car seems to read 'Maes Pils', a Belgian beer brand. Going by that, I'd guess the scene was somewhere in Belgium.
 

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