Henri Mignet

Henri Mignet (19 October 1893 – 31 August 1965) was a French radio engineer who became well known as an aircraft designer and builder. His most famous design is the Flying Flea family of aircraft.

Early interest in aviation Mignet was born in Charente-Maritime. In 1911, when he was 18 years old, he started corresponding with Gustav Lilienthal (the brother of Otto Lilienthal) about aviation. In 1912, he built his first aircraft, the HM.1-1 model. It was a monoplane inspired by the creations of Otto Lilienthal. In 1922, he constructed the HM.3 "The Dromedary", the HM.4 parasol, and airplane with no rudder and an Anzani 10 CV engine, and the HM.5, a sailplane. In 1924, he sold the HM.5 sailplane for a large sum of money.

In 1936, after a number of fatal accidents, the HM.14 was tested in wind tunnels in France and in England, and a design fault was identified and corrected. The Flying Flea subsequently became a great, if controversial, success in the aviation world. The fatal accidents due to the initial, flawed, design meant that professional aircraft manufacturers were very reluctant to produce versions of the Pou.

Mignet encouraged amateur-builders to construct the HM.14, but he also carried on designing further models into the 1960s, all of them based on the Flying Flea concept.

Mignet died, aged 71, in Pessac in Gironde.