Croses Para-Cargo

The Croses EC-9 Para-Cargo is a 1960s French six-seat tandem-wing cargo-carrying homebuilt aircraft designed by Emilien Croses.

Design and development

Developed from the earlier two-seat EC-6 Criquet and three-seat EC-8 Tourisme, the Para-Cargo was a cargo-carrying aircraft with a tailwheel landing gear and a tandem wing similar to the Mignet Pou-du-Ciel family. It could carry up to six persons or 450 kg (990 lb) of freight^[1] and was intended especially for carrying skydivers: the aircraft was equipped with a large side door that hinged inward and upward to facilitate skydiver egress. Another door at the rear of the fuselage was provided to allow oversize loads to be carried. Unlike other Croses tandem-wing designs that only used the Mignet Pou-du-Ciel system in which there was no aileron control but rather the rudder-driven yaw coupled through the dihedral to cause banking, some Para-Cargo aircraft had a conventional three-axis flight control system. At least two examples (F-ACVC and F-PYBC) had been built by 1965.

Specifications

General characteristics

• Crew: One pilot
• Capacity: 450 kg (990 lb) of freight or four skydivers or two stretchers with attendants
• Length: 7.50 m (24 ft 7 in)
• Wingspan: 9.60 m (31 ft 6 in)
• Empty weight: 650 kg (1,433 lb)
• Powerplant: 1 × Lycoming, 134 kW (180 hp)

Performance

• Cruising speed: 175 km/h (108 mph)
• Rate of climb: 4.0 m/s (800 ft/min)

References

• Taylor, Michael J. H. (1989). Jane's Encyclopedia of Aviation. London: Studio Editions. p. 272. 
• Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1977–78. London: Jane's Yearbooks. pp. 487–88. 
• Jane's All the World's Aircraft 1985–86. London: Jane's Yearbooks. p. 549. 
• "Un cargo pour les amateurs". Aviation Magazine (702): 63. 1977-03-15. 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Croses aircraft.

• Photographs of restored Para-Cargo
• Para-Cargo specifications, photos and videos on site operated by Emilien Croses's son (in French)