The Mudry CAP 20 is a French family of aerobatic competition single seater monoplanes.

Design and development

The Mudry CAP 20 was developed at the same time as the CAP 10, as a single-seat aerobatic version. It was followed by a lightweight version designated the CAP 20L which in turn was replaced by the CAP 21 with more advanced wing. The CAP 20 was developed as a single-seat acrobatic version of the company's CAP 10; it was used by the

French Air Force The French Air and Space Force (, , ) is the air force, air and space force of the French Armed Forces. Formed in 1909 as the ("Aeronautical Service"), a service arm of the French Army, it became an independent military branch in 1934 as the Fr ...

's flying demonstration team, ''Equipe de Voltige Aerienne''. The CAP 20L is externally similar to the 20, but is a structurally new design. The wing planform is more angular; the dihedral is less (1.5 degrees); the

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French language, French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds Aircrew, crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an Aircraft engine, engine as wel ...

cross-section is distinct, with a rounded top (the 20 used a triangular-shaped top deck). Its dimensions are slightly reduced, and the empty weight was considerably lower (the L stands for ''leger'', or ''light''). Production of the 20L was suspended in July 1979, when managers decided to improve its wing design. However, when the new wing was introduced, the overall design was tweaked to the point that a new designation (CAP 21) was used to designate the series. The CAP-21 was then developed as the CAP-230.

Variants

;CAP 20 :Initial version, 9 aircraft (1 CAP-20, 3 CAP-20A, 4 CAP-20B, 1 CAP-20E) ;CAP 20L-180 :Lightweight variant powered by a Avco Lycoming piston engine, only one aircraft produced. ;CAP 20LS-200 :Lightweight variant powered by a

Avco Lycoming IO-360-RCF The Lycoming O-360 is a family of four-cylinder, direct-drive, horizontally opposed, air-cooled, piston aircraft engines. Engines in the O-360 series produce between , with the basic O-360 producing . The engine family has been installed in ...

piston engine, 12 aircraft. ;CAP 21 :Improved version with new advanced aerofoil section wing and new

landing gear Landing gear is the undercarriage of an aircraft or spacecraft that is used for taxiing, takeoff or landing. For aircraft, it is generally needed for all three of these. It was also formerly called ''alighting gear'' by some manufacturers, s ...

, 18 aircraft. ;CAP-21-260 : A CAP-21 retrofitted with a engine.

Operators

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(CAP 20)

Specifications (CAP 21)

References

* * *{{cite book, last=Mondey, first=David, title=Encyclopedia of the World's Commercial and Private Aircraft, year=1982, publisher=Crescent Books, location=New York City, page=201 1970s French sport aircraft Low-wing aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft CAP 020 Aircraft first flown in 1976 Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear Single-engined piston aircraft