Group Captain Clouston, he of Comet racer fame, flew a Flea, and was far from impressed;-
‘I climbed at 40 mph to about 600 feet, the highest I have ever known a Flea to get. The plane was treacherous to manouvre, and I decided I had better glide down for a landing as soon as possible. I eased the nose down, closed the throttle and began a gentle gliding turn.
Without the slightest warning, the Flea turned upside down and dropped like a brick towards the ground. From the way the control stick flapped floppily around, I assumed the cables had snapped.
I reached out and grabbed the trailing edge with my hand. I tilted it but nothing happened. In desperation I opened the throttle wide. The engine, which had been idling, caught instantly and the rush of slipstream hitting the tail surfaces brought the Flea upright, about 100 feet from the ground.’ {The Dangerous Skies- PAN Books }
Taking the view that this device was beyond all redemption, he sketched out an ammended design with a bigger fuselage and orthodox layout. Two were constructed and the design was dubbed ‘The Clouston Midget’ . Both suffered fatal crashes.
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