The Aubert PA-20 Cigale (), PA-204 Cigale Major and PA-205 Super Cigale were a family of high-wing cabin monoplanes built in

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

in the years immediately before and immediately after

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. The original Cigale was shown at the 1938

Paris Salon The Salon (), or rarely Paris Salon (French: ''Salon de Paris'' ), beginning in 1667 was the official art exhibition of the in Paris. Between 1748 and 1890 it was arguably the greatest annual or biennial art event in the Western world. At the ...

but its development was interrupted by the War. The Cigale was a high wing

cantilever A cantilever is a rigid structural element that extends horizontally and is unsupported at one end. Typically it extends from a flat vertical surface such as a wall, to which it must be firmly attached. Like other structural elements, a cantilev ...

monoplane A monoplane is a fixed-wing aircraft configuration with a single mainplane, in contrast to a biplane or other types of multiplanes, which have multiple wings. A monoplane has inherently the highest efficiency and lowest drag of any wing con ...

of conventional configuration with fixed,

tailwheel undercarriage Conventional landing gear, or tailwheel-type landing gear, is an aircraft Landing gear, undercarriage consisting of two main wheels forward of the Center of gravity of an aircraft, center of gravity and a small wheel or skid to support the tail ...

Development

The original two-seat PA-20 Cigale first flew in 1938 powered by a Train 6T. Various refinements were made, including a change to a

Renault 4Pei The Renault 4P, also called the Renault Bengali Junior, was a series of air-cooled 4-cylinder inverted inline aero engines designed and built in France from 1927, which produced from to . Design and development Charles Lindbergh's Atlantic Ocea ...

engine, and the aircraft was redesignated PA-201 Cigale. This original aircraft was destroyed during the course of World War II, but in 1945, Paul Aubert returned to the design, building another aircraft to the PA-201 standard. This went on to prove highly successful when flown competitively in 1945 and 1946. Aubert further modified his design into a four-seater, flying the PA-204 Cigale Major on 21 April 1947, and soon building a second example to this standard. One of the PA-204s was subsequently re-engined first with a SNECMA 4L in 1951 (PA-204S), and then with a

Lycoming O-290 The Lycoming O-290 is a dual-ignition, four-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed aircraft engine. It was first run in 1939, and entered production three years later. A common variant of the type is the O-290-G, a single-ignition model wh ...

-D2B (PA-204L) in 1955 and a

Lycoming O-320 The Lycoming O-320 is a large family of naturally aspirated, air-cooled, flat four engine, horizontally-opposed four-cylinder, direct-drive engines produced by Lycoming Engines. Introduced in 1953, it is commonly used on light aircraft such a ...

in 1956 (PA-205 Super Cigale). With this engine, Aubert was finally satisfied with the design and built around thirty production examples, eight of which went to Aéroclub Air France.

Variants

;PA-20 Cigale :Pre-war prototype two-seat trainer. ;PA-201 Cigale :Post-war development. ;PA-204 Cigale-Major :Improved four-seat variant with a Renault 4Pei inverted inline engine. Prototype flew in 1949, with production from 1954.Bridgman 1955, p. 131. ;PA-204S Super Cigale :Further developed with a

Régnier 4L Régnier or Regnier is a French given name, personal name and surname, and may refer to: Surname * Adolphe Regnier (1804-1884), French linguist * Anatol Regnier (* 1945), German classical guitarist and writer * Charles Regnier (1914–2001, father ...

02 engine. ;PA-204L Super Cigale :Final production variant with an Avro Lycoming engine with a range of power output between 135 and 180 hp.

Specifications (PA-204L)

References

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External links

An overview
{{aircontent , related= , similar aircraft= , sequence= , lists= , see also= 1930s French civil utility aircraft Cigale Single-engined tractor aircraft High-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1938