The Piel CP-10 was a post-war

French French may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France ** French people, a nation and ethnic group ** French cuisine, cooking traditions and practices Arts and media * The French (band), ...

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 ...

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 aircraft, powered by a

Mengin B The Poinsard 25 hp or Mengin Type B is a small, two-cylinder, air-cooled, horizontally opposed aircraft engine built in France. it was manufactured by Établissements Pierre Mengin from a design by René Poinsard. Power was around 19 k ...

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 (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 a working flu ...

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

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 ...

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, on the front part of an aircraft, spacecraft, or submersible, from which a pilot controls the vehicle. The cockpit of an aircraft contains flight instruments on an instrument panel, and the controls th ...

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. F ...

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 elevator (air ...

. 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 hydraulics, hydraulic device designed to absorb and Damping ratio, damp shock (mechanics), shock impulses. It does this by converting the kinetic energy of the shock into another form of energy (typic ...

on a strut to the upper fuselage. The CP-10 Pinocchio first flew on 25 September 1948 at Moisselles 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 Single-engined piston aircraft Aircraft with fixed conventional landing gear