The Salmson ''Cricri'' ("Cricket") was a French light aircraft of the 1930s.

Design and development

The Cricri was a conventional, parasol-wing monoplane with fixed tailskid undercarriage and seating in tandem open cockpits for the pilot and passenger. Although originally intended for recreational flying, the type achieved its greatest success when it was selected by the French government to equip the

Aviation Populaire Aviation includes the activities surrounding mechanical flight and the aircraft industry. ''Aircraft'' include fixed-wing and rotary-wing types, morphable wings, wing-less lifting bodies, as well as lighter-than-air aircraft such as hot ai ...

, resulting in sales of over 300 machines. This plane was also used as a trainer and

patrol aircraft A maritime patrol aircraft (MPA), also known as a patrol aircraft, maritime reconnaissance aircraft, maritime surveillance aircraft, or by the older American term patrol bomber, is a fixed-wing aircraft designed to operate for long durations over ...

in 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 ...

.Avions legendaires – Salmson D.6 Cricri
/ref> Following the war, CFA attempted to revive the design as the Cricri Major. This differed from its predecessor mainly in having a more powerful engine and an enclosed cabin. Eventually, only ten examples were built.

Variants

;D6 Cricri:(329 built) ;D63 Cricri:dedicated flight trainer version (2 built) ; CFA D.7 Cricri Major:An enlarged CriCri with enclosed cabin, powered by a 90 hp (67 kW)

Salmson 5Aq-01 Between 1920 and 1951 the Société des Moteurs Salmson in France developed and built a series of widely used air-cooled aircraft engines.Gunston 1986, p. 158. Design and development After their successful water-cooled radial engines, developed ...

5-cylinder radial.

Specifications (D6)

References

Bibliography

* * * {{Salmson aircraft 1930s French sport aircraft Salmson aircraft Single-engined tractor aircraft Parasol-wing aircraft Aircraft first flown in 1936