Enfield Flying Flea Engine/Crank

Hi,
Would anyone happen to know the whereabouts of a crank or complete
engine for a 1940's Flying Flea?
Mine is knackered following the working loose of the flywheel,
thanks,
Phil

 

that's something of an unlikely one. Was it the same as the engine for
anything else?

There's a more-or-less compelte Flying Flea up in that aero museum in North
Wales. Amazing. Does yours actually fly (given a working engine?)

 

There is also a flying flea that hangs from the hanger ceiling in the
museum at Old Warden near Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

Go to



to hear Mr Chumleigh Warner telling you all about Mr Appleby and his
home built Flying Flea with bw film of take off, flight and crash into
ploughed field!

 

Go to



for one of the later versions.

 

See also:
<


This looks like a modern reincarnation though. The link to his web site
didn't work for me sadly.

Then there's this one:

<

To my untrained eye it looks like a beetle engine, which is almost a
bike engine, so ought to qualify as a sort of honorary SOB really.
Certainly in the spirit of UK.R.M.C. anyway.

Cheers,

S.

 

Umm, I wondered about this a few days ago - thinking "Bet the little
flying flea plane would have used an engine out of something else". Then,
a moment later, I thought "Hold on, wasn't it French?"

<quick google>
Yup, it was.

So "ENFIELD"...?

<quick google>
Umm, an _Enfield_ Flying Flea is a motorbike. Not a plane.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Enfield_WD/RE
WW2 air-droppable 125.

 

Especially the part where "...the tiny machine plunges headlong into a
ploughed field..."

 

We knew that!

I especially like the idea that it needs a drip tray, and appears to
have no front brake (or is that a small drum, RHS?). It does have a horn
and a speedo though .

I'm not sure I understand that cylinder head though: spark plug is RHS,
but what's the thing on the LHS? Surely it's a simple stroker?

 

SpamTrapSeeSig wrote:

Wotcha.

Decompressor - my Enfield Bullet has one . . . my BSAs have valve lifters.

 

Presumably in this case for stopping the engine as a 75cc wouldn't need one
for starting purposes. However, if the engine self-generates the spark then
decompression would be simple way of stopping it.

 

....honest...

 

Thus spake Dudley Simons () unto the assembled multitudes:

There were also a number of flying fleas in a certain Brighton cinema some years ago, as I recall.
It wasn't nicknamed The Flea Pit for nothing.

 

True for the early version, though later versions had a linkage to the
rear wing as well, which solved the slot effect problem.
Unfortunately, this rather compromised Mignet's original philosophy of
utter simplicity.

It has to be said that part of the problem was that many
constructor/pilots had more enthusiasm than skill in both building and
flying the aircraft, which accounted for at least some of the
casualties.

 

Tiz a bit weird.

Even at 125 (or 175), it's still not really necessary for starting, and
a single switch on the LT side would be loads cheaper than the necessary
machining for a decompressor.

Still, thanks for the explanation LW et al.

Cheers,

S.