Just come across this one. Only point to add is that the photo on the right is Appleby in the 5mtr Flea before it was modified after the Heston crash. The photo was taken at Heston and the sea was added later to illustrate the flight for a newspaper article.

Dave.

Flea flying

It has recently come to my notice that the CAA have created a new category of aircraft called “Deregulated” which I presume means any old thing anyone can cobble together. It must weigh no more than 115kg and have a minimum wing area of 11.5 sq mtrs. Robin Morton, LAA inspector, has been weighing original HM14 Fleas in museums and concludes that a HM14 could be built and therefore legally flown within these limits. The Fleas built to H Mignet`s instructions used some fairly hefty steel parts including a massive steel axle, wheels, rudder pivot and tail wheels. In fact no aluminium alloy was allowed by Mignet because he considered it a “treacherous metal”. He was probably right there but modern alloy steels like 4130 chrome molly are much stronger than Mignet`s gas pipe componentry and therefore in thinner gauges would save a lot of weight. Modern engines also are lighter for their power output, not to mention more reliable.
There is a lot of understanding now of the 1935 Fleas `s aerodynamic faults and Fleas like the Shuttleworth`s one have flown successfully with the post ban modifications. The aforementioned Robin Morton has been encouraging me to build another one but not this year. Dave Tigwell.

G AEOH

I only had the fuselage in my workshop, Billy may have kept other parts at Slade House. What I saw up in the loft was a jumble of parts including a bare steel tube fuselage which I understood to belong with the other, wooden, bits.
G AEOH was dark blue with silver lettering all right. I removed hundreds of lovely little brass pins during the reconstruction, of a pattern no longer available. I still have lots of them. One of the Scott engines was almost certainly Gordy`s original by the sound of it.
While I remember it, the Cotswold Aircraft Restoration Group had a flea at RAF Innsworth that once belonged to the Skyfame Museum at Staverton. It was poorly constructed and was “recovered” in orange nylon, stapled on! The group was run by my boss, John Eagles and was mainly concerned with the restoration to flying condition of a Miles Messenger. John Eagles was a fine engineer and a lovely chap to work for. He had a bit of the hanger partitioned off to house his secret Tiger Moth collection which consisted of enough wings, fuselages, engines and bits to build at least three aeroplanes. Dave Tigwell.