Since oriol brought up the Butterfly, a Belgian Mignet-formula glider that later became a powered ultralight, I thought I'd share (or perhaps repost, I do repeat myself sometimes) this documentary short about the late, great Swiss aviation pioneer Louis Cosandey.
This wonderful 18-minute piece was produced by RTS (Swiss public broadcasting) back in 1972. Yes, it's in French, and I hope to find the time to translate some parts of it, but much if it needs no translation: priceless period footage of flying a Mignet formula glider back in the 1940s. It's definitely worth the time and should provide inspiration for anyone seeking to take wing on a modest budget. I can't embed the video here, you have to watch it on the RTS site.
http://www.rts.ch/archives/tv/information/c-etait-hier/3436456-louis-cosandey.html
00:54 Cosandey in his well-known, much-modified Mignet HM.19C (for Cosandey) HB-SBG in 1972, including lovely air-to-air shots
03:25 Period footage begins, interpersed with brief Q&A
15:02 HM.19C in 1972 again
I also have somewhere his original articles documenting his glider experiments. In the meantime, here are a few more links:
http://pouguide.org/les-poux-planeurs-de-cosandey (includes some downloadable .pdf drawings)
http://claudel.dopp.free.fr/Les_pla...Cosandey Pou Planeur/Cosandey_Pou-Planeur.htm
http://claudel.dopp.free.fr/Les_pla.../Pages-externes/Les-Ailes_1220_18-06-1949.htm
http://www.croses.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=56
This wonderful 18-minute piece was produced by RTS (Swiss public broadcasting) back in 1972. Yes, it's in French, and I hope to find the time to translate some parts of it, but much if it needs no translation: priceless period footage of flying a Mignet formula glider back in the 1940s. It's definitely worth the time and should provide inspiration for anyone seeking to take wing on a modest budget. I can't embed the video here, you have to watch it on the RTS site.
http://www.rts.ch/archives/tv/information/c-etait-hier/3436456-louis-cosandey.html
00:54 Cosandey in his well-known, much-modified Mignet HM.19C (for Cosandey) HB-SBG in 1972, including lovely air-to-air shots
03:25 Period footage begins, interpersed with brief Q&A
15:02 HM.19C in 1972 again
I also have somewhere his original articles documenting his glider experiments. In the meantime, here are a few more links:
http://pouguide.org/les-poux-planeurs-de-cosandey (includes some downloadable .pdf drawings)
http://claudel.dopp.free.fr/Les_pla...Cosandey Pou Planeur/Cosandey_Pou-Planeur.htm
http://claudel.dopp.free.fr/Les_pla.../Pages-externes/Les-Ailes_1220_18-06-1949.htm
http://www.croses.fr/articles.php?lng=fr&pg=56
