The Piel CP-10 was a post-war

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

sports aircraft in the Pou du Ciel tradition and was the first design from

Claude Piel Claude Piel (15 January 1921 – 19 August 1982) was a notable French aircraft designer. Biography Piel was born in Paris, the son of an aeronautical carpenter. One of the best known French designers of light aircraft, over the years, Piel d ...

to fly.

Design and development

The CP-10 Pinocchio was the first of Claude Piel's long line of light aircraft designs. Despite the common name, it was completely different to his second design, the CP-20 Pinocchio. Built by Piel and Roger Holleville, the CP-10 was a Pou du Ciel style, single seat

tandem-wing QAC Quickie Q2 A tandem wing is a wing configuration in which a flying craft or animal has two or more sets of wings set one behind another. All the wings contribute to lift. The tandem wing is distinct from the biplane in which the wings are s ...

aircraft, powered by a Mengin B

flat-twin engine A flat-twin engine is a two-cylinder internal combustion engine with the cylinders on opposite sides of the crankshaft. The most common type of flat-twin engine is the boxer-twin engine, where both pistons move inwards and outwards at the same ti ...

mounted in the nose with its cylinder heads exposed for cooling and driving a two bladed

propeller A propeller (colloquially often called a screw if on a ship or an airscrew if on an aircraft) is a device with a rotating hub and radiating blades that are set at a pitch to form a helical spiral which, when rotated, exerts linear thrust upon ...

. The larger, forward wing was mounted above the flat sided

fuselage The fuselage (; from the French ''fuselé'' "spindle-shaped") is an aircraft's main body section. It holds crew, passengers, or cargo. In single-engine aircraft, it will usually contain an engine as well, although in some amphibious aircraft t ...

on each side by two pairs of short, inverted-V struts from the fuselage to the wing rotation axis. The angle of incidence was controlled from the open

cockpit A cockpit or flight deck is the area, usually near the front of an aircraft or spacecraft, from which a Pilot in command, pilot controls the aircraft. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the ...

by long rods from the lower fuselage to the wing underside near the

trailing edge The trailing edge of an aerodynamic surface such as a wing is its rear edge, where the airflow separated by the leading edge meets.Crane, Dale: ''Dictionary of Aeronautical Terms, third edition'', page 521. Aviation Supplies & Academics, 1997. ...

. The shorter span rear wing was mounted on top of the fuselage immediately behind the cockpit. The CP-10 had a straight edged

fin A fin is a thin component or appendage attached to a larger body or structure. Fins typically function as foils that produce lift or thrust, or provide the ability to steer or stabilize motion while traveling in water, air, or other fluids. Fin ...

and rounded,

balanced rudder Balanced rudders are used by both ships and aircraft. Both may indicate a portion of the rudder surface ahead of the hinge, placed to lower the control loads needed to turn the rudder. For aircraft the method can also be applied to elevators and ...

. Each main wheel of its fixed, tail wheel undercarriage was mounted on a hinged V-strut to the lower fuselage and with a

shock absorber A shock absorber or damper is a mechanical or hydraulic device designed to absorb and damp shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typically heat) which is then dissipated. Most sh ...

on a strut to the upper fuselage. The CP-10 Pinocchio first flew on 25 September 1948 at

Moisselles Moisselles () is a commune in the Val-d'Oise department in Île-de-France in northern France. It lies 13 km north of St Denis, and about 30 km west of Paris Charles de Gaulle Airport. See also *Communes of the Val-d'Oise department ...

but was damaged in an accident there on 17 January 1949.

Specifications

References

{{Piel aircraft Piel aircraft 1940s French sport aircraft Tandem-wing aircraft Homebuilt aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1948 Single-engined tractor aircraft