Piel Emeraude

Emeraude, Super Emeraude, Aeriel
CP301A Emeraude
Role Civil utility aircraft
Manufacturer Coopavia, SCANOR, SOCA, Rouchaud, Renard, CAARP, Scintex, Aeronasa, Fairtravel, Durban, Garland, homebuilders
Designer Claude Piel
First flight 19 June 1954

The Piel CP-30 Emeraude is an aircraft designed in France in the mid-1950s and widely built both by factories and homebuilders.

Design and development

The Emeraude is a low-wing cantilever monoplane with fixed tailwheel undercarriage and side-by-side seating for two. The aircraft uses wood construction with a laminated box spar with an elliptical trailing edge.[1] The prototype was designed and built by Claude Piel, who then licensed manufacture of the aircraft to a number of firms, most significantly Coopavia. These early production machines were similar to the prototype, but were fitted with more powerful engines.

The first major revision of the design was the Super Emeraude, designed by Piel while working at Scintex in the early 1960s. It featured a strengthened airframe and cleaned-up aerodynamics, allowing it to be certified for aerobatics. Much of Scintex's Super Emeraude production was contracted out to CAARP, where the design eventually served as the basis for the CAP-10.

Emeraudes were also produced in the United Kingdom (by Fairtravel as the Linnet) and in South Africa by General Aircraft ("Genair") of Virginia Airport as the Aeriel 2 with imported engines[2] , the first aircraft to be manufactured entirely in that country. The Linnet was modified by the Garland Aircraft Company, formed by P.A.T Garland and D.E. Bianchi, to meet British airworthiness requirements. The first aircraft (G-APNS) was built at White Waltham and first flown on 1 September 1958 by Squadron Leader Neville Duke. Two more aircraft were planned but only one more was built by Garland-Bianchi in 1962. Between 1963 and 1965 three more aircraft were built with 100-hp Rolls Royce Continental O-200-A engines. The last two aircraft had one-piece sliding cockpit canopies.

Operational history

Reviewers Roy Beisswenger and Marino Boric described the design in a 2015 review as "It is not quick to build , as the timber construction is rather complicated because of the c0mplex forms, but in aesthetic terms it is undoubtedly a success."[3]

Variants

Binder Aviatik CP-301S Smaragd at Cotswold Airport, Gloucestershire, England in 2016. Built under licence, this is a deluxe version of the Piel Emeraude.
CP-1310 Super Emeraude
Piel Emeraude CP328A

British production

Garland-Bianchi Linnet - design based on the Piel Emeraude with a 90 hp Continental C-90-14F engine, two built.
Fairtravel Linnet - further production powered by a 100 hp Rolls Royce Continental O-200-A engines, three built.

Specifications (Scintex C.P. 301 C1)

Data from Jane's All The World's Aircraft 1961–62[5]

General characteristics

Performance

See also

Aircraft of comparable role, configuration and era

References

  1. "What kind of airplane should you build?". Air Progress Sport Aircraft: 45. Winter 1969.
  2. "Sport and Business, Flight, 8 April 1960
  3. Tacke, Willi; Marino Boric; et al: World Directory of Light Aviation 2015-16, page 101. Flying Pages Europe SARL, 2015. ISSN 1368-485X
  4. Bayerl, Robby; Martin Berkemeier; et al: World Directory of Leisure Aviation 2011-12, page 96. WDLA UK, Lancaster UK, 2011. ISSN 1368-485X
  5. Taylor 1961, pp. 66–67.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.