Max Plan PF.204 Busard

Last updated
Max Plan PF.204 Busard
Max Plan PF.204 F-PBGE Mitry 29.05.57 edited-3.jpg
The sole PF.204 Busard stored at Mitry-Mory airfield near Paris in May 1957
Rolelight sporting monoplane
National originFrance
ManufacturerMax Plan
DesignerMax Plan
First flight5 June 1952
Introduction1952
Retiredby 1963
Primary userprivate pilot owner
Number built1

The Max Plan PF.204 Busard was a French-built light sporting monoplane of the early 1950s. Following some modifications it was redesignated as PF.214; a planned derivative, the PF.215, was never made. The plane led to the subsequent construction of the Lefebvre Busard, a single-seat racing aircraft built marketed for homebuilding.

Contents

Development

The PF.204 Busard was designed and built by Monsieur Max Plan for personal use as a racing and sporting monoplane. The PF.204 was of all-wood construction with plywood skin. The aircraft was fitted with a fixed cantilever undercarriage enclosed by light alloy fairings. [1]

Operational history

Only one example of the Busard was completed in 1952. By 1956 it had received several modifications, the most noticeable being a revised engine cowling and enlarged cockpit; at this point it was redesignated the PF. 214. [2] At that time there were plans to replace the Minié with a 90 hp (67 kW) Continental C90 4-cylinder horizontally opposed engine, producing the PF.215.

After some years of active flying, it was placed in storage at Mitry-Mory airfield on the northeast outskirts of Paris by May 1957. It no longer appeared on the French civil aircraft register by 1964. [3] By 2006 the aircraft was in storage at the Musée Regional de l'Air, [4] Angers - Loire Airport, France. [5]

Variants

Max Plan PF.204 Busard
The original racer, designed and built by Max Plan, powered by a 75 hp (56 kW) Minié 4.DC.32 h4-cyl. horizontally opposed piston engine.
Max Plan PF.214 Busard
The sole MP.204 re-designated after modifications to the engine cowling and an enlarged cockpit.
Max Plan PF.215 Busard
A planned derivative to have been powered by a 90 hp (67 kW) Continental C90 4-cyl. horizontally opposed piston engine.

Specifications (PF.204)

Data from Green (1956)

General characteristics

Performance

Notes

  1. Green, 1956
  2. 1 2 Bridgman 1956 p.145
  3. Butler 1964 p.113
  4. Angers Museum collection
  5. Ogden 2006, p. 135

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piper PA-11 Cub Special</span> 1940s American light aircraft

The Piper PA-11 Cub Special is a later-production variant of the J-3 Cub manufactured by Piper Aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jodel D.11</span>

The Jodel D.11 is a French two-seat monoplane designed and developed by Société Avions Jodel in response to a French government request for a low-wing aircraft for use by the nation's many emerging flying clubs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Karhumäki Karhu 48B</span>

The Karhumäki Karhu 48B was a Finnish 1950s four-seat monoplane.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CAB Minicab</span> Light aircraft type (prod. 1949–1955)

The CAB GY-20 Minicab is a two-seat light aircraft designed by Yves Gardan and built in France by Construction Aeronautiques du Bearn (CAB) in the years immediately following World War II. CAB was formed in 1948 by Yves Gardan, Max Lapoerte and M. Dubouts.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Klemm Kl 107</span> Light single engine aircraft developed in Germany in the 1940s

The Klemm Kl 107 was a two-seat light aircraft developed in Germany in 1940. It was a conventional low-wing cantilever monoplane of wooden construction with fixed tailwheel undercarriage. Wartime production totalled only five prototypes and some 20 production machines before the Klemm factory was destroyed by Allied bombing. Following World War II and the lifting of aviation restrictions on Germany, production recommenced in 1955 with a modernised version, the Kl 107B, of which Klemm built a small series before selling all rights to the design to Bölkow. This firm further revised the design and built it as the Kl 107C before using it as the basis for their own Bo 207.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Brochet MB.70</span> 1950s French light aircraft

The Brochet MB.70 was a two-seat light aircraft developed in France in the early 1950s for recreational flying and amateur construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CallAir Model A</span>

The Call-Air Model A is an American two- to three-seat utility aircraft designed by the Call brothers and built by the Call Aircraft Company, later developed into a successful line of agricultural aircraft.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Chasle Tourbillon</span> Type of aircraft

The Chasle YC-12 Tourbillon ("Whirlwind") was a single-seat light sporting aircraft developed in France in the mid-1960s and marketed for homebuilding via plans. It was a low-wing cantilever monoplane of conventional configuration. As designed, it featured fixed tailwheel undercarriage, but it could also be fitted with fixed tricycle gear.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Colonial Skimmer</span> Type of aircraft

The Colonial Model C-1 Skimmer was an American small single-engined amphibian flying boat built by the Colonial Aircraft Corporation. It was the start of a line of very similar aircraft designed by David Thurston.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">PZL-102 Kos</span> Type of aircraft

The PZL-102 Kos (blackbird) is a Polish two-seat touring and training monoplane designed and built by PZL.

The Partenavia P.55 Tornado was a 1950s Italian high-performance competition and touring monoplane built by Partenavia. The Tornado was a small mid-wing cantilever monoplane with a retractable tricycle landing gear. The aircraft was powered by a nose-mounted Lycoming O-320 piston engine.

The Lefebvre MP.205 Busard was a single-seat racing aircraft built in France in 1975 and marketed for homebuilding. Its design was adapted from that of the Lefebvre MP-204 'Busard' racer, that had been conceived to attempt a world airspeed record in the under 500 kg class in 1949. Compared to its predecessor, the Busard was lightened and intended to be powered by a lower-power engine, and simplified for construction by amateurs. Indeed, the prototype was built by the designer with assistance from students at the Albert Camus technical school of Rouen. Like the MP.204 that it was based on, the Busard was a streamlined, low-wing, cantilever monoplane of conventional design with fixed, tricycle undercarriage. Provision was made for the use of either an aero engine, or a Volkswagen automotive engine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Piel Zephir</span> 1970s French light aircraft

The Piel CP.80 Zephir , Piel CP.801 and Piel CP.802 are racing aircraft developed in France in the 1970s and marketed for homebuilding. They are compact, single-seat, single-engine monoplanes with low, cantilever wings.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SIPA S.90</span> Type of aircraft

The SIPA S.90 was a French-built two-seat light touring and training aircraft of the 1940s and 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">SIPA S.1000 Coccinelle</span> Type of aircraft

The SIPA S.1000 Coccinelle was a French-built light civil utility aircraft of the 1950s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Ambrosini Rondone</span> Italian light aircraft

The Ambrosini Rondone is an Italian-designed two/three-seat light touring monoplane of the early 1950s.

The Aeronca 12AC Chum was a 2-seat cabin monoplane designed and produced by Aeronca in the United States in 1946. The design was a licence-built version of the ERCO Ercoupe.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Fleetwings PQ-12</span> 1940s American target drone

The Fleetwings PQ-12 , company designation Fleetwings Model 36, was a 1940s American manned aerial-target designed and built by Fleetwings for the United States Army Air Corps.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Matra-Cantinieau MC-101</span> Type of aircraft

The Matra-Cantinieau MC-101 was an early 1950s French experimental two seat helicopter of conventional tail rotor configuration but with its engine mounted close to the main rotor, above the seating.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Minié 4.D</span>

Production of the Minié 4.D series of air-cooled, flat four engines began before World War II and resumed afterwards into the 1950s.

References