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Flea_Nut

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  1. Bob Cornwell was an exceptional craftsman who worked at Luskintyre in the early 90's. He built a beautiful HM14 replica that i bought off him in 2000. I lost contact with him and went visit him in Weston in the Hunter valley yesterday only to find the house had been sold and was in the process of being restored by the new owner. The new owner said that Bob had died several years previously and that there was still aircraft stuff in the shed so i went a had a look expecting to find a completed HM8 fuse ( conventional 1928 hi wing monoplane designed by Henri Mignet before the Flea craze) When I last saw it, it was complete on its U/C but uncovered. Also there was a completed HM16 fuse on it wheels including the rudder ( this was a tiny flying flea that only a very small person could get into let alone fly. Bob was such a person.. He had also built an Aircraft called a Cardinal. which he had scaled up from an aircraft modellng mag but had stuffed up in the upsizing. Only a contortionist or a child could get into or out of it. I did it once. I bought it off him and donated to the Central Coast Air League What was left in the shed was the wings from the cardinal which are completed to Bobs exceptional standards and that he was going to use on the HM8. Both HARS and TAVAS are extremely keen to find these airframes. I hope to god someone somewhere has saved them and they havent been trashed. I missed saving an original 293 Flying Flea by a week If you hear even a vague rumour of what has happened to them please, please let me know Cheers James
  2. After many years of struggling with a body that I've badly mistreated ( many incidents and accidents ) Its come time to say that's enough. I had 2 1931 Clancy Skybaby replicas ( which have now gone to HARS ) 1 partially built HM 293 ( which went to Queensland and a beautifully built HM14 ( built by Bob Cornwell at Luskintyre in 1990. Sadly learned of his death today ) This has also gone to HARS. Also dontated a massive amount of old props, instruments and whatever they wanted. Took 3 removal trucks to do it. They didnt want anything postwar nor did they want plywood, 4 metre lenghts of 3/4 x 3/4 Huon pine or $3000 worth of paint and thinners or a new Pteradactyl Ascender still in its shipping crate. Or 2 stroke engines,a set of floats (small) A lot of stuff left. I'll slowly be putting it up in the classified as I take photos James
  3. As the pilot was doing a full power runup prior to taking off, the engine cut out ( Rotax 912 ) and then burst into flame. The pilot managed to scrambled to safety, and the aircraft was totally consumed by fire. The AT3 was the only one in Australia (Kitplane) It is thought that fuel hose came off. Approximately 4 weeks ago
  4. Hi Scott. post some picies and we will soon tell you what it is, I have a complete Hm14 undergoing an engine refit and a partially built 293 that is an exact copy of Freds 290. You must be aware of the severe seating restrictions imposed on the pilot in these types of aircraft. These aircraft are made for small people ( designed for 70 KG pilots) even though the larger pilots who are tuning into this group will disagree with me. I have decided I am not happy with either of my Fleas. The HM14 is undergoing its engine refit to go to the TAVAS museum because the wing has been built with a swept spar ( no flat centre section) and no drag / antidrag struts in the wings. Not safe to fly.. The 293 is 4 inches longer than Freds 290 but my ribs all come from his jigs and the mainspars are made from Canadian spruce imported by me. All steel is complete plus fuel tank and instrument panel. I''m not comfortable in it. I'm 100 KG's and theorically the 293 should not fly me although I have seen Freds short winged 290 flown by pilots 20 K's over weight with no trouble. The trouble you are going to have is when you declare to the RAA that you are going to continue the build. They will want to know the build history and particularly the woods and glues used in the build. Be prepared for this because it will be very painfull probably requiring an inspection by a level 2 authorised inspector. The RAA is PAIIIINFULL to deal with and could take as long as a piece of endless string. Any way put up some picies. If it is a short HM14 fuse it can be extended with Freds authorised mods. At one time when Bob Cornwell was running his Flea site, we knew of all the builders in Aus. On the death of Phil Baligand (293) and the lack of information on the cause of his crash, all building of the Flea in Aus stopped ( there may be a few exceptions I dont know of) You may have the beginnings of a few Bob and I know about. Do you know its build history? Vive Le Pou James
  5. HM14 Flying Flea, 293 Flying Flea, 1931 Clancy Skybaby's, Pteradactyl Ascender, Moyes powered Hanglider
  6. Thanks guys for the input. I have imported vehicles into Aus before and I'm aware of the costs involved, Just importing an engine from Canada was unbelievably expensive and has blown out what was a cheap deal to a bloody expensive one. Phil if its very cheap I'll probably do it. It would be easier to find the Balerit thats in Aus and already on the register as thats where the fun really begins especially with the state of the RAA at the moment
  7. sorry to post it multiple times. struggling with the site
  8. photo of my 293 with rear centre section and Cosandy Flap Fuel tank on the ground
  9. phot of my 293 with rear wing centre section and Cosandy flap
  10. Hi Phil, I've been trying to locate the Balerit in Aus in the hopes of buying it without much success. Can you make enquiries as to whats happening with it and if the guy wants to sell it? Price? Much appreciated James (also Perry ) long lost relative?
  11. Hi Don, I'm having trouble driving this software. Saw your message come thru but now cant figure out how to get back to the PM with your ph number. Not an easy site to drive
  12. Sorry we got out of sink with the picies posted of the modified 14 and my comments. I must get mine off the trailer this week and begin to mount the Henderson. My 14 has the curved mainspar and was built from Henri's book, so no flat centre section or folding wings or extended fuse. Looks 1934 Authentic and I dont want to mess with it so that it looks like a late era build
  13. Yes I plan on raising the 14 of the ground more than it is. My 14 has a solid axle and relies on big rideon lawnmower tyres to provide suspension. Too close to the ground and thats how I flipped it> whose flea in the photo?
  14. Hi Kasper, as you say PIO is entirely the pilots fault especially on the flea and flying stick only. Some flea's fly with rudder and brakes connected to the rudder. Fred Byrons Flea (HM293) has the travel set at 2.3rds pedal movement moves the rudder and the last third applies the brakes. Didnt like it myself but Kirk Sutton who was a flying instructor at the Oaks when the Flea was based there flew it beautifully. His Pilot notes are on the Flea forum and I saw him perform some beautiful flying even tho he was overweight for the wing area. I asked him why his approach was so hot and he said that this flea did not behave very well with its weight to wing area ratio at slow speeds. Kirk and I both used to work in Sydney CBD and would meet for lunch to discuss Fleas and how we would resolve their issues. He just dissappeared one day and then I heard he was building a n HM14 in England. He did come back to test fly another Hm14 that had been modified by Fred Byron with a slit fin /rudder combination the he and Fred had developed. Unfortunately this was sold to Don Campbells Museum in Canada. It would never fly Don as he is a massive guy, I doubt he could get into the cockpit. A 60% fin and 40% rudder combination reduces the rudder sensitivity enormously and all Fred plans now incorporate this. My 14 has no brakes and you taxy it on the ground by grabbing each wheel with a gloved hand to turn in that direction. Full rudder on the stick. Very poor response to rudder on the ground until 30 knots. Poor undercarriage ( too close to the ground ) and a full flying rudder make it very sensitive indeed as you approach flying speed. You only have to think about moving your hand and the Flea has faced in that direction. The guy who attempted to fly the 14 knew nothing of the fleas handling and was lucky not to kill himself especially as Bob Cornwell had not set any control stops on the front wing. The combination of these errors would have killed him if he had flown it. As it was /is I fast taxied it at Somersby and flipped it over braking the prop ( F@#$% ) and the trailing edge of the front wing. I had no intention of trying to fly it with no control stops but was ready for PIO if it did leap into the air. Scared the crap out me, boy was the adrenalin pumping
  15. Hey, great response guys, yes it was Rob Germons Flea and boy is it a hot thing to fly. The new owners bought it with the intention of getting rob to build new outer wing panels but for what ever reason it never happened. A beautifully built flea but as you say nothing would convince Rob that Frasers aerofoil was all it was cracked up to be. Recent wing tunnel tests show that it is completely stable and does produce 5% more lift but because the aerofoil is cupped under the leading edge it is a bugger to cover. My 14 was built by Bob Cornwell at Luskintyre while he worked there restoring Tigermoths in about 1990. Bob says he flew it but I'm sure he didnt as there is just too much wrong with it to fly safely. It was test flown the length of Luskintyre airfield by an aerobatic pilot. Cant remember his name, has a Flying school at Maitland and crashed his Pitts doing low level loops. Anyway, it scared the pants off him with PIO and told Bob to put it back in his shed and forget it. I bought it out of interest in the hm14 and because it has wings designed by Jim Jenz I know that with the right adjustments it would fly. It too has only 5.4m front wing which is capable of flying me but again it would be too hot. After Steam Feast I plan to make a new centre section for each wing and extend them. The front to 6.4 and the rear to 5.6. According to my calcs this will fly a 90 kg pilot ( crash diet for me) within the RAA rules. The Flea was registration no 344 on the ultralight register but is very heavy. I plan to replace most of the steel tubing and sheet steel with 4130 and should be able to reduce the weight by 10KG and that includes new centre sections and making the wings foldable. They are one piece at the moment and very difficult to manage/assemble
  16. Hey Don, I'd love a spare wing covering. I think we met years ago and you said you had broken your leg very badly in a Ptera crash and you still had this wing covering. This you? Been trying to trace you ever since to try and get this covering off you. Mines too bad to fly but I can get another from the States. Be great to catch up and get some pointers off you re flying the dac. Nev, yes the Henderson has an aftermarket sump to double the oil volume and the Clancy brothers did the after market heads themselves and called it the Clancy Henderson. Supposedly got a genuine 40hp out of it instead of 40 on paper. The engine I have has larger barrels and Riccardo heads which should give me a genuine 40 also. Its just that there is no genuine running Clancy Henderson Aircraft in Australia and this was a very important milestone in Australian Aviation as the aircraft was the first Australian designed and built fully aerobatic aircraft and test flown by Smithy.
  17. Yes Nev, The Henderson engine is only a 3 bearing crank, the Deluxe (1928) is a 5 bearing crank. As you say the gearbox is cut off. The only video of a Henderson engine running in an aircraft is a Penguin engine startup at Omaka in Marlborough. Oddly enough its the only one I've ever seen that runs as if the engine is in the bike ( prop not running from the flywheel end ) I will post the engine start on You Tube hopefully when we take The 14 to Steam Feast. I dont intend to fly it very far on this engine. Maybe hops, maybe a circuit at Cabulture. It had a Rotax 503 engine in it which is more power than it needs. I took it out to fit my Pteradactyl Ascender after I flipped the 14 over. engine teardown after a prop strike. I did fly my friends flea in NZ but the wing area was too low making very high take off and landing speeds. I really want a wing area that will fly me in the parachute decent mode with full power. All the data says that with the correct wing area and pilot weight, in no wind, the forward speed is 18 mph. Incredible. I didn't mention the fact that I am one of the founding members of The Australian Vintage Aviation Society ( TAVAS ) and all my collection on paper belongs to them. TAVAS is now based at Cabulture and specialise in WW1 airaft. Look them up on the net. You will be amazed at what has been achieved in the 3 years it has been operational. If you are into vintage aviation, this is the place to be. I would love to relocate there but the Mrs is not keen. Kasper, there were 2 Balerit imported for a tour of Aus quite some years ago and apparently one of them is still in Aus but I've been unable to trace it and it doesnt appear on the register. Do you know anything about it? Do you know Jim Jenz and where his fleas have gone? Vive Le Pou james
  18. Nev, who was the friend whose been bombarding you with flea literature? James
  19. Where the hell is New Gisborne? never heard of it. My Mum was born in Gisborne NZ. A Museum in Canada was going into liquidation year before last and was selling /disposing of the whole collection. They had 3 1920's Henderson motorcycle engines that had been converted to aircraft use for sale. I was an idiot and only bought 1 even tho the aus to US was dollar for dollar. The import duty and costs were humungous. I should have bought all 3, the costs would have been the same. The engine is about to be mounted and I want to have it ready for an attempted startup at the Maitland Steamfest this year ( Easter ) I've taken one of the Clancy's before and run it up and then let the kids get into the cockpit and picked up the tail while another friend shook the wing wire bracing, to give the kids a sense of what it was like to fly. This became the biggest attraction of the Steamfeast with a queue of mums and kids. Didn't get a mealbreak that day, I should have complained!! I have Au$15000 invested in this engine at the moment, still have to do some minor engineering after its in the Flea. The engine was supposed to be in one of the Skybabies and will probably end up there as this was the engine nominated by the Clancy brothers when they built the aircraft at Mascot NSW in the 30's. Sidevalve engine at the moment but I have their drawings to manufacture a set of overhead valve heads in bronze. Probably soak up another $5 grand to do this. No other flying aircraft exists with this overhead engine James
  20. Yes I'm fully aware of the dive tendencies and the problems that caused them, also the solutions to those problems. The biggest problem of all has been the complete silence of the Flea fraternity in France and their refusal to discuss these problems and the solutions to them. A stable airfoil is the major issue. i.e the centre of pressure must not move when the angle of attack is changed. Richard Fraser in the Canada has been working on this problem for many years and has developed a stable airfoil. There is only one Flying Flea (HM293 ) on the register in Aus Made by Fred Byron. Its based at Watts Bridge. There are approx 10 other projects around Australia that have failed for lack of information. Also the death of 293 pilot in WA when the Flea tumbled in flight. No one was able to determine if the heart attack he had was a result of the tumble or the tumble was a result of the heart attack. This Flea had tumbled on the pilot previously. For the life of me I cant remember his name. Gordon Laubsh? loved mustering his cattle and flying along cold fronts. I think he was approx 80 when he died. Anyone remember any more details or knew Gordon? Vive Le Pou James
  21. Hi all, I used to belong to the RAA years ago and have a collection of vintage aircraft including 2 Flying Flea and 2 1931 Clancy Sky Babies. Built and rebuilt aircraft for other people as a LAME. Now retired and its time to get my own projects happening. Just ending the reconditioning of a 1924 Motorcycle engine converted to aircraft use. Will probably go into my 1934 HM14 Flying Flea for a taxying exhibit. It will fly but I need to lose a few Kilos Vive Le Pou James ( Flea_Nut )
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