Back in 1934 the production line of Nick Comper’s first multiseat, enclosed cockpit aeroplane, the Mouse, was up and running. However whilst the Mouse was attractive in appearance and had the turn of speed to be expected of Comper, apparently it was overweight (or in the manufacturer’s words, suffered from a “slight deficiency in payload” – the art of understatement is nothing new!) and the cost of remedying this was likely to be beyond the reach of the cash strapped Heston Aircraft Ltd (into which the Comper Aircraft Company had, by then, metamorphosed). In consequence, production of the Mouse was abandoned and the prototype Mouse (G-ACIX) plus twelve airframes, in varying stages of completion, were offered for sale along with all drawings and calculations plus, presumably, the production rights. The advertisement below appeared in the Aeroplane of 20 March 1935. Presumably the airframes were sold – but does anyone know to whom and what became of them? Or maybe no-one wanted them, and they lingered on at Heston, for G-ACIX is reported to have been there until June 1936 – when it then disappeared. Can anyone tell more of the story of the disappearing Mice? Maybe someone with access to the Air Britain Archive of Summer 2005 in which, I understand, there was an article entitled ‘The Comper Lightplanes’ by Jack Meaden & Malcolm Fillmore.
By: avion ancien - 15th March 2010 at 18:55
Thank you, D1566 and Planemike.
I had searched the ‘Flight’ archive but could find nothing for the post 1934 period relating to the sale of the Mouse prototype and the eleven part complete airframes.
I’m very grateful for the extract from the Meaden & Fillmore article in Air Britain Archive. If the authors don’t know what happened to the prototype and the part complete airframes, then I suspect that their fate is now lost forever.
So it seems that this is another one to be filed under “dead end” in my obscure aeroplanes file – unless someone else out there has information to suggest otherwise!
By: Arabella-Cox - 15th March 2010 at 08:54
Surely someone must have access to the summer 2005 issue of AB Archive!
AA……….
Have dug out the relevant Archive but the article really gives no clues as to the final destination of the Mice “bits”….
” This was really the end for the Mouse as, although Comper had gone as far as to start production and twelve aircaft had been laid down, there were no orders and his funds were inadequate to continue. A completely new company, Heston Aircraft, was formed to take over but they were not interested in the Mouse prototype and the production aircraft parts which were put up for sale as a package and it was not heard of again”.
Hope this helps……………Planemike
By: D1566 - 15th March 2010 at 06:06
I presume you have looked through the ‘Flight’ archive (sorry I did not have time to look in detail!)
By: avion ancien - 14th March 2010 at 21:18
Oh well, I tried!
By: avion ancien - 13th March 2010 at 22:28
Surely someone must have access to the summer 2005 issue of AB Archive!
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March 12, 2010 at 6:48 pm